Horror moment child acrobat, 13, plummets to floor as circus stunt goes wrong

27 February 2024 , 08:18

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Horror moment child acrobat, 13, plummets to floor as circus stunt goes wrong

A 13-year-old circus performer plummeted to the ground after a stunt went wrong as the audience screamed.

The child was taken to hospital with a fracture after falling several feet during the display which saw her hanging from the ceiling with another acrobat. The incident took place inside a circus tent in the city of Deyang, in China's south-western Sichuan Province, last Thursday (February 22).

Dramatic footage shows two acrobats performing a smooth dance-like routine by spinning in circles while hanging off a long, silk rope to the accompaniment of music. They circled one another until one of them let go of their end and grabbed hold of the other end, continuing to rotate above the ground while embracing the second performer.

They continued spinning until suddenly the rope came off from the ceiling and they both crashed on the floor. Audience members could be heard screaming as the footage ended. The two performers were not seriously injured, according to circus staff, who attributed the incident to a failure in the steel wire rope.

The circus performers plummeted to the floor during the accident (AsiaWire)

The performers were hanging from a silk rope (AsiaWire)

Local authorities have since temporarily banned the act. Mr Zhang, an experienced acrobat, said that this type of performance requires coordinated cooperation among multiple people. What audiences see on the surface is one or two performers on stage, making various movements as the rope rises and falls.

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In reality, the ascent and descent of the rope are entirely controlled manually by backstage personnel. He stated: "In the past couple of years, I don't know what's going on, but there have been several incidents in rope performances."

He added that if the performers on stage fail to grip the rope tightly if the rope breaks away from the steel wire connected to the motor above, or if the personnel operating the motor make mistakes, it could lead to performers falling from a great height.

Simona Kitanovska