One child remains in critical condition and two others are recovering after falling nearly 14 metres from a Ferris wheel in Greeneville, Tennessee.
“One basket flipped over and made contact with the other one,” Greeneville Police Detective Capt. Tim Davis told reporters Monday night. “There was one basket that all three of the juveniles fell out of.”
Davis said one six-year old girl remains in the Intensive Care Unit with a traumatic brain injury.
Her 10-year-old sister suffered injuries to her forearms. Davis wasn’t able to detail the injuries of their 16-year-old companion.
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Two of the children were flown to hospital immediately after the incident at the Greene County Fair Monday night. The other was taken by ambulance.
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A witness, whose daughters were also on the ride, told ABC affiliate WJHL that “they bounced off the metal bridging of the ride and eventually hit the ground.”
“It was like watching water pour from a glass,” Gregory Lynthacum said.
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Davis had previously said all three were alert and talking, but has since received the new information.
A third-party inspector is already on site, and all rides at the fair have been shut down for the investigation. There’s no word yet on the cause of the accident.
When asked about reports that the car was rocking before it flipped, Davis said police have not been able to confirm that but they are still interviewing people.
Davis told WBIR that police will be relying on the inspector because they don’t know much about rides.
“A lot of questions that you have we’re not going to be able to give the answer to until we have the inspector’s report,” he told reporters Monday. “We don’t know how carnival rides work.”
Officials from the fair said on Facebook the names of the children weren’t being released out of respect for the families.
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce development reported that there have been four other “amusement device accicents in Tennessee” since the beginning of July.
In a press release issued just four days before the incident, the department warned passengers to make sure the rides were properly staffed and operated.
“We want to protect both Tennesseans and visitors from any type of potential harm.” Commission Burns Phillips wrote in the release.
Earlier this week in Kansas, a boy in Kansas died on the Schlitterbahn Waterpark’s 168-foot-tall waterslide, billed as the “world’s largest waterslide.”
*With files from the Associated Press
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