Greeneville Police Capt. Tim Davis said at a news conference late Tuesday that the failure caused the basket to overturn and dump the girls some 30 to 45 feet to the ground.
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Both girls are patients at Niswonger Children’s Hospital in Johnson City, where they were taken by helicopter after the accident.
Kayla is “having lots of pain, and she’s frustrated”, Reynolds said, but “is able to talk and smile and paint and do sand art and play on the iPad”.
“We’ll be relying heavily on the inspector to know whether there was mechanical issues”. Three other inspectors – the police captain didn’t say who they represent – are at the scene investigating.
The Associated Press reports the Georgia-based company, Family Attractions Amusement, which operated the ride, was also involved in another accident three years ago.
Briley Jay Reynolds, 6, is breathing with assistance from a ventilator after she plunged from the Greene County Fair Monday alongside her sister, 10-year-old Kayla, and another girl, 16. He said he couldn’t give out information on injuries that the 16-year-old suffered.
All rides at the fair were shut down after the incident.
While they now hold a permit for the Ferris wheel in Tennessee for the next three months, a third-party investigator is being called in due to the incident. Investigators found that someone had disabled a safety mechanism that was there to prevent such an accident. But North Carolina regulators determined that the ride was insured by Family Attractions Amusement, its workers were also employed by the company and the business was listed as the owner at other fairs across the country.
Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said last week there had been four amusement device accidents just since July 1 in the state and urged riders and operators to follow all safety guidelines.
An inspector contracted by the fair was at the site.
The Greeneville Sun has reported that Greene County Fair Board officials chose to go through with a five-year contract with a Family Attractions despite the North Carolina incident, citing the company’s previous safety record in Tennessee and the owners’ claims that they were not involved with the Vortex ride.
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Reynolds said she hopes that Kayla will be released soon but had developed a fever Wednesday that doctors are monitoring.
