Courtesy of Associated Press

Bradleigh-Ann Walker

Senior Content Editor
@urbanbeautyxo

Entertainment turned to terror during a Ringling Bros. and  Barnum and Bailey show yesterday (May 4) at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Rhode Island.

The eight women who perform the circus’ “Medeiros Hair-Hang Act”–named as Viktoriya Medeiros, Widny Neves, Samantha Pitard, Viktorila Liakhova, Dayana Costa, Julissa Segrera, Stefany Neves and Svitlana Balanicheva–fell between 25 and 35 feet to the ground, most suffering broken bones as a result. A ninth performer on the ground was injured as well.

There were eleven people injured in total, although it’s unclear who the last two were. At least one was in critical condition as of yesterday. No audience members were hurt.

The performers were hanging by their hair from aerial scaffolding, and witnesses say that they saw a cable snap.

“I screamed. I’m like, that’s not right. You know, sometimes you’re surprised and it’s part of the show, but this clearly wasn’t,” one witness, Chelie Barrie, said.

Of course, an event like this immediately calls the safety of the circus’ equipment into question. Ringling Bros. spokesman Steve Payne made assurances that the same aerial scaffolding had been in use since their Legends show launched in February.

“Each and every time that we come to a new venue, all of the equipment that is used by this performer — this group of performers as well as other performers — is carefully inspected. We take the health and safety of our performers and our guests very seriously, and our company has a safety department that spends countless hours making sure that all of our equipment is indeed safe and effective for continued use,” Payne said in a statement.

The Rhode Island State Fire Marshal and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are collaborating on an investigation. Providence Public Safety said that the circus had all of the necessary permits in order to conduct the performance, and that they were the ones in charge of all of the show’s setup.

Public Safety is encouraging any audience members who may be troubled from the terrifying event to make use of the disaster distress hotline at 800-985-5990, where they’ll be able to speak with trained counselors.

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