Two teenage girls hurt in 12m Ferris wheel fall

Two teenagers fell 12m from a Ferris wheel at an agricultural show on the West Coast, injuring themselves and a person below.

The two girls fell from the ride at the AgFest, held at the Greymouth aerodrome on Saturday, the event’s managing director, Andy Thompson, said.

The two passengers fell out, one landing on another girl below, he said.

They fell about 12m, the Greymouth Star reported.

The ride was being operated by Sturgeon Amusements, who have been approached for comment.

Thompson said he didn’t witness the incident, but was called through radio communications and told there’d “been an incident at the Ferris wheel”.

“I got there and found an, an ambulance on site and also, um, two girls on the ground and one girl who had been hit as the other girls fell,” Thompson said.

Thompson said he understood the pair had fallen out of the cages as the Ferris wheel was coming down.

“They were lucky to fall on the, on the ground, on the grass, and so didn’t hit any of the actual cage or part of the Ferris wheel itself as they came down.”

The damaged Ferris wheel. Photo / Greymouth Star

Thompson said emergency services arrived shortly after.

One of the victims, who spoke to the Greymouth Star on the condition of anonymity, said she and her friend, both aged 15, were sitting in the carriage when her friend grabbed the side bar or grate “and then it kinda just broke off really easily”.

“We were at the top and it (the broken piece) hooked on to another piece of metal — we thought it would break off, but the whole cart started tipping forward and we were nearly upside down,” she told the Greymouth Star.

“The operators basically said we jumped (out), and that we were rocking it and that’s how it happened.

“But we weren’t rocking it at the time.”I want to make it known we did not jump and we were not rocking. The cart broke easily — it was not our fault.”

Hato Hone St John said they were notified of a fall incident at Aerodrome Rd, Blaketown, at 3.09pm on Saturday.

They responded with an ambulance and operations manager.

Two people were assessed at the scene, with both transported to Greymouth Hospital.

One person sustained moderate injuries, while another sustained minor injuries.

Senior Sergeant Mark Kirkwood also told the Greymouth Star he was at the venue late on Saturday afternoon when a support strut on a carriage broke.

Kirkwood said the broken strut hit one of the supporting columns, causing the seat to tip forward.

The operation was immediately shut down by police and WorkSafe was notified.

“The operator said he had been operating 40 years and never seen that,” Kirkwood told the Greymouth Star.