Eight dancers hurt as 'go-go forklift' comes crashing down

Eight young revellers were injured at a dance party on Mexico's southeast coast when the forklift tray they were dancing on came crashing down from a great height.

Officials say three of the partygoers hurt in the weekend accident in Veracruz, where a carnival was being held, are in serious conditions.

They were among a group of about a dozen people dancing on a makeshift go-go platform that had been hoisted some five metres above the ground on a large forklift.

"Suddenly the cage overbalanced by the way they danced," the secretary for civil protection, Ricardo Maza Limon, told local media. "And it (tipped and) plunged and fell along with the people who were there."

Video of the incident verifies Mr Limon's account. The platform appears to tilt dangerously several times before it comes down, but the youngsters atop it simply raise their glasses and cheer instead of responding to the danger.

Mr Limon added that the forklift rig had not been approved by officials ahead of the celebration, saying that a local business had taken the initiative to hire the truck.

Six of the dancers, all of whom were aged between 14 and 21, remain in hospital.