Inspectors found a mechanical failure caused three children to plummet from a Ferris wheel at a Tennessee county fair, a police spokesman said Tuesday.
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“I spent a long, hot day today looking at all the other rides out here”. The other girls are in stable condition. Elizabeth Gilreath, 11, received critical injuries when her scalp was torn away after she fell out of her seat on the King’s Crown ride at Omaha’s Cinco de Mayo festival, the Omaha World-Herald reported.
The girls, aged six, 10 and 16, tumbled from the ride at the Greene County Fair in the U.S. state of Tennessee about 6.15pm Monday (9.15am Tuesday AEST). She has been under the continual care of the pediatric surgery service, the pediatric intensive care unit team, as well as the neurosurgery team here.
It’s unclear what exactly went wrong on the ride, but a photo shows two ferris wheel cars flipped on their sides, and police confirmed that three girls, ages 16, 10 and six, were injured.
Davis said no one interviewed by police on Monday indicated that they saw the seat rocking.
The company that runs the midway will have 24 hours to file a report with state regulators and undergo the third-party inspection.
Bobby Holt, acting president of Greene County Fair Board, said all rides operated by Family Attractions Amusement company were closed afterward and won’t reopen until a third-party inspection is complete and approved by state and fair officials.
We are unsure at this time of the conditions of the three people who fell off the ride. He said he couldn’t release information on the 16-year-old’s injuries.
The accident happened Monday evening around 6:15 at the Greene County Fair in eastern Tennessee.
Two of the three females injured were flown by helicopter to the Johnson City Medical Center, and the third girl was taken by ambulance to Johnson City Medical Center.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the three individuals and their families”, he said. “No rides will operate until that is ascertained”.
In a follow-up to the audit past year, the agency said Tennessee law does not require the state to hire its own inspectors.
Law enforcement cordon off the area surrounding the Ferris wheel on Monday.
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“We are deeply shocked and saddened”, the fair wrote on its Facebook page.
