A five-inch carabiner holding eight circus performers aloft broke into three pieces as they fell several stories to the ground on Sunday, reports today said. From the Los Angeles Times:
“It seems as though a carabiner failed and appears to have caused the platform to fail and the performers to fall down,” Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare. Officials are still looking at why the carabiner failed, he said.
A circus representative confirmed that the carabiner in question had broken, but said it was too early to identify any one specific “cause” of the accident. None of the performers involced in the accident have died; two are in critical condition.
