Investigators in the US suspect that a snapped clip sent eight aerial acrobats plummeting six metres or more during a daring performance, an experience one injured performer likened to a "plunge into darkness."
The eight acrobats are still in hospital, two in a critical condition, following the accident during a performance at the Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey circus in Providence, Rhode Island on Sunday.
After the accident, a 10-13cm steel clip was found in three pieces on the ground with its spine snapped. The clip, a common type called a carabiner that's used for everything from rock climbing to holding keyrings, was one of several pieces at the top of a chandelier-like apparatus that suspended the performers.
Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare stopped short of saying the carabiner caused the accident. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is trying to make a final determination.
"We don't know if it was metal fatigue, if it wasn't properly positioned or something else," Pare said. "We just don't know."
The circus said the women's injuries included a pierced liver and neck and back fractures, as well as head injuries. None of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening, Stephen Payne, a spokesman for Feld Entertainment, Ringling's parent company, said.
"We are hopeful that all of these performers will achieve a full recovery and be able to return to the show at some point," Payne said.
The performers - called "hairialists" - hang from their hair during the act, which includes choreography and spinning, hanging from hoops, and rolling down wrapped silks while suspended as high as 12m.
Video by audience members shows a curtain dropping to reveal the eight women hanging from the apparatus. Seconds later, as they begin to perform, the women fall, and the apparatus lands on them.
The women landed on a rubber floor covering that isn't meant as a safety backup, Payne said.
The equipment has been used dozens of times per week since the beginning of the year, and a circus crew had installed it last week, Payne said. The crew also inspects it, he said, and performers generally check their own rigging.
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