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Spotted UK

Local News Reports

Circus performer falls 10ft from ‘giant wheel of death’ during show

BySpotted UK

Dec 14, 2023

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A circus performer has been taken to hospital after he fell from a height of at least 10 metres during a show in Norfolk.

The acrobat, aged in his 20s, was riding the “giant wheel of death” apparatus at the Hippodrome Circus in Great Yarmouth on Wednesday evening when the fall happened.

The show, which was watched by an audience of adults and children, was stopped immediately as police and ambulance services were called.

The circus manager believes the performer’s injuries are broken bones but he is not certain.

“It looked like miss-timing. He went to jump through one of the wheels and slipped, landing on the floor,” Jack Jay, also the circus ringmaster, told the BBC.

Mr Jay added that the acrobat was “fully conscious after the fall” and two members of the audience, who are understood to be an off-duty police officer and a paramedic, came to help.

Health and safety officials were notified and were expected to investigate the fall and the apparatus at the purpose-built circus.

The acrobat’s brother was his partner in the performance and accompanied him to James Paget University Hospital along with circus staff.

Norfolk Constabulary and the East of England Ambulance Service have been contacted for comment.

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