Terrifying moment two children cheat death after falling from bouncy castle blown 40 feet into the air during school fund-raiser
The horror happened during a fund-raising day at a school in South Africa when an unexpected gust caused the apparently untethered inflatable to take flight.
Witnesses at the Laerskool Protearif primary in Krugersdorp screamed in terror as the multi-coloured castle spiralled high into the sky.
A shocked attendant watched helplessly as one of the children trapped on the inflatable was unable to hold on and plummeted to the ground below.
Just moments later, a second youngster also lost their grip and plunged off the side of the castle.
Quick-thinking parents at the event formed a human crash pad to break the pupils' fall, but despite their efforts, both children were still seriously injured.
They were rushed to hospital where one was said to have a fractured skull and the other a broken arm.
It is not known how many or if any other children were on board and managed to cling on inside the bouncy castle which landed about 50 feet from where it took off.
The fund-raising event that nearly turned into a tragic disaster was held last Saturday on the school playing fields attended by over 1000 parents, pupils and friends.
School headmaster Deon Lourens declined to comment but a statement on the school Facebook site confirmed two learners were rushed to the nearest A & E unit.
It revealed that one child, thought to be the one with the broken arm, was released the same day, and the other with a fractured skull, was released three days later.
The statement read that both children were receiving trauma counselling but added: 'It is with great gratitude that we are happy to share the very good news with you.
'The two children who sustained injuries during the fracture accident at the Protea festival on Saturday were discharged from hospital on 31/5 and 3/6 respectively.
'The necessary trauma-counselling was given to both children, as well as to their co-learners, who experienced the event and thank you all for standing together.
'We thank you very much for everyone's positive support, help and prayers' it said.
An eye-witness with two pupils at the school, who asked not to be named for fear of getting her children into trouble, said: 'When they fell I thought they were dead.
'I was watching from a food stall with my girls when I heard screaming and turned around and just saw this blue, green and red thing shooting up to the heavens.
'Then there was a huge scream when first one child and then another fell out but of all the places they could have landed it was right over a group of parents below.
'They reached up their arms to try to catch the falling children and undoubtedly saved their lives or saved them from much worse injuries by cushioning them.
'It was not a very windy day but it seemed this huge gust just came from nowhere and it was said the bouncy castle had not been secured to the ground' she said.
The school has 620 pupils aged 6 to 13 and last hit the headlines due to high winds when a tornado blew off its roof and destroyed its buildings in 2017.
The 100mph tornado devastated a huge area of Johannesburg killing three people.
A video of the incident was given to a local paper The Citizen by a concerned parent who said: 'I have looked at the video again and again and it appears untethered.
'While I saw that other inflatable structures were secured it did not look as if this jumping castle was tied to the ground in any way and went up about 3 storeys.
'I seriously hope lessons are learned for future school fundraisers' he said.
It is unclear from the footage whether any ropes, tethers or anchoring mechanisms usually sold with the product were being used as they have to be by the law.
Melissa Vere Russel of ABC Jumping Castles, not the company used, said: 'In high gusts a bouncy castle can act like a parachute and the wind can carry it away.
'All castles are manufactured with mechanisms to secure them to the ground and failing to anchor them properly could end in disaster and could be fatal'.
The school's principal Deon Lourens declined to comment and his deputy Lauren van der Merwe said the matter had been referred to the Department of Education.
A school spokesman added: 'There is a full and transparent investigation underway into what happened and it would inappropriate to comment until that is concluded'.
Disasters on bouncy castles 'taking off' are not uncommon and a criminal trial into the death of 6 children killed in 2021 in Devonport, Tasmania, ended today.
The fatalaties, including 3 serious injuries, happened at Hillcrest Primary School when a bouncy castle was blown 33 feet into the air and landed in a tree 160 feet away.
The operator of Taz-Zorb who owned the inflatable Rosemary Ann Gamble was cleared of breaching work safety laws to the anger of parents by a magistrate.
It ruled that the 'dust-devil' that hit the bouncy castle killing the children was 'due to an unprecedented weather system that was impossible to predict and avoid'.
The victims 4 boys and 2 girls were all pupils aged between 11 and 12. Angry parents shouted at the bouncy castle owner after the verdict who sat quietly sobbing.
An investigation by the Journal of Paediatric & Child Health in Australia after the tragedy collated incident from all around the world based on press reports.
It found that between 2000 and 2022 that there had been 28 deaths and 484 children and people injured on airborne bouncy castles with a third in China.
In 2018 two fairground workers were jailed for 3 years for the bouncy castle manslaughter on grounds of gross negligence after the death of Summer Grant, 7.
The schoolgirl was on an inflatable that was blown away with her inside in Harlow, Essex, which cartwheeled 300 yards down a hill across a park and into a tree.
In 2004 a 5-year-old boy died falling from a bouncy castle which was blown 20 feet up into the air and onto the pitch of a baseball stadium in Arizona by a gust.
In 2006 two women aged 38 and 68 were killed at Riverside Park in Chester —le-Street, County Durham, falling out of an airborne inflatable but 30 survived.
In 2024 the 2-year-old son of a Phoenix firefighter was killed when a bouncy castle at a house party in Casa Grand, Arizona, took off in high winds and he fell out.
In the UK the Health & Safety Executive says inflatables by law must have at least six anchor points with high quality rope able to take high pressures at all points.
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