Nine acrobats injured in circus 'hair-hang' fall

The ringmaster was still introducing the high-wire act when eight female acrobats suspended mid-air suddenly plunged to the ground.

The terrifying moment, captured on video by an audience member, happened at a circus show in the US state of Rhode Island on Sunday morning local time.

The ringmaster can be heard trying to build audience excitement for the act when a curtain drops and the acrobats are seen suspended in an aerial "hair hang" – eight female performers hanging "like a human chandelier", using their hair.

Seconds later a platform drops unexpectedly and the acrobats fall 10m onto the ground below.

The metal-frame apparatus from which the women were hanging reportedly came free from the metal truss it was connected to and came crashing down on top of them.

Nine were seriously injured in the fall, including a dancer below.

The performers have been taken to hospital but none of the injuries appears to be life-threatening.

The collapse happened about 90 minutes into the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus show, at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence.

Spotlights were on the performers at the time but all the lights went out after the fall and other circus hands can be seen rushing to aid those injured.

Eyewitness Sydney Bragg, 14, said she thought the crash was part of the show at first.

"It just went crashing down," Bragg was quoted as saying. "Everyone was freaking out. We heard this huge clatter and then we just heard the girls scream."

Further shows have been put on hold.

Source: The Guardian, NBC News

Author: Erin Tennant, Approving editor: Matthew Henry