Jumping castle flips into air with people inside in New Zealand: Matua New Year’s Eve

Several people were injured after a strong gust of wind hurled a bouncy castle into the air on New Year’s Eve, causing it to fall 100 meters through the ground before finally coming to a stop.

At least five people were injured in the Matua New Year’s Eve celebration incident in Tauranga, New Zealand, on Saturday, and two were rushed to hospital.

One person who fell from the castle “landed heavily”, according to a witness. “They huddled on the ground, not really moving.”

KC Ann Southee, who was at the event in Fergusson Park with her neurodiverse children, said it was “the scariest night of my life.”

‘We were there. My kids were about to jump on it and the lady working it said she wanted a safety check first.

“Then not even a second later, it was off the ground,” Southee said on social media.

It was chaos. I had to jump to the side with my youngest. And I lost my 2 oldest between them.

Later Saturday night, she said: “I’m glad my children are safe in bed, my thoughts are with the injured.”

“And I’ll be forever grateful to the lady who operates the bouncy castle for her split-second decision to check it out before letting my kids in.”

Because then the thing took off and hurt a lot of people.

Witness James Mason was with his son near the castle when it began to move.

At first, the jumping castle rose on one side and it looked like several people fell off it, he said. things.co.nz.

He saw a person fall about 10m after being thrown and shout ‘my head, my head’.

Mason said a female doctor rushed to treat the man while others put blankets on him to keep him still.

He said the castle traveled about 100 meters “throughout the entire festival” before the crowd could stop it.

Another witness, Kiri Prentice, was at the park with her family and filmed a video a few minutes before the bouncy castle was blown up.

“You can see in the flags and in my mother-in-law’s hair, how strong the wind was,” she said. sunlive.co.nz.

Ms Prentice said the operators of the children’s activities seemed very responsible, the equipment looked in very good condition and she was impressed with how they were monitoring the number of children going to the jumping castle.

But the wind got stronger as the day progressed.

“It is obvious that wind monitoring and some rules on safe operation need to be developed for New Zealand circumstances,” he said.

A Tauranga City Council spokesman said all inflatables were shut down at all community events “as soon as we were notified of the incident.”

‘Worksafe NZ has been notified and we are also carrying out our own investigation.’

The terrifying scene in Tauranga evoked memories of the Hillcrest Primary School tragedy in Tasmania on December 15, 2021.

Six children – Zane Mellor, Peter Dodt, Addison Stewart, Jye Sheehan, Jalailah Jayne-Marie Jones and Chace Harrison – died after the jumping castle at Hillcrest rose 10 meters into the air.

A year later, Matthew Richman, director of welfare support for Ambulance Tasmania and the Police, Fire and Emergency Management Department, said many first responders were still grieving the tragedy.

“When Hillcrest happened, we activated our critical incident stress management team and also our broader wellness support team and had people on the ground very quickly to provide on-scene support,” Richman said. the Mercury.

“That support really picked up in the first few weeks, and we’re extending that support for a two-year period.”

An investigation into the tragedy is underway and a public inquiry is also planned.