Horror as 2 girls thrown from Ferris wheel at Harvest Festival | World | News
Two girls were taken to hospital after falling off a Ferris wheel during a popular festival. The girls were ejected from the vehicle after a fault caused the couple to topple from their seats onto the metal platform at the base of the steering wheel.
Eyewitnesses reported screaming and chaos breaking out around Louisiana’s annual Harvest Festival. Authorities confirmed that on Saturday, November 1, one of the girls was taken to the hospital by helicopter and the other was taken by road. Even though two days have passed, no news has been published regarding their current situation. Eddie Jones, a bystander, said he heard screams and “falling bodies” while waiting in line for the Ferris wheel.
“We got in line to get tickets for the Ferris wheel and I heard a girl scream,” she told CBS affiliate WAFB.
“I looked around and saw that the Ferris wheel car had tipped over. I don’t know how it got into that position, but it was stuck.”
He added that after the fall he could see two girls injured and lying in a pool of blood under the vehicle.
Jones added: “I’ll probably never get on a Ferris wheel again. It shouldn’t have been stuck like that; it had a major fault. Someone didn’t do something right, that’s for sure.”
The previous day, a man behind the wheel reported feeling uncomfortable, hearing “cracking noises” and having problems with cars getting stuck.
Ronald Brasseaux said: “It was crackling like they had to remove it.
“It was supposed to swing with the Ferris wheel when it went, but it got stuck. It stayed at a certain angle as it spun, and that’s when they popped out.”
The local fire chief confirmed that the fair’s amusement ride and another slide were shut down while the fair’s security investigated and tried to find the source of the malfunction.
Following the fall, all rides at the fair were closed and inspected, but under Louisiana law, the attraction had to be inspected every time it was set up and opened to the public.
The festival has not yet made a statement about the incident.
