By: Sharon Aron Baron
Performing the “Human Chandelier” a platform collapsed during an aerial stunt at a circus performance Sunday, sending eight entertainers plummeting to the ground. Nine performers were seriously injured in the fall, including a dancer below.
The accident was reported at about 11:45 a.m. during the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus’ Legends show at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence Rhode Island according to the AP.
Stephen Payne, a spokesman for Feld Entertainment, the parent company of Ringling Bros., said the accident happened during an act when eight female performers hang “like a human chandelier” using their hair.
He said the metal-frame apparatus from which the performers were hanging came free from the metal truss it was connected to. The eight women fell 25 to 30 feet, landing on a dancer on the ground.
Investigators are looking at whether or not a cable snapped leaving all nine injured.