TORONTO – Three young children were injured Monday in an upstate New York town, after the inflatable bouncy castle they were playing in caught a gust of wind and flew into the air, violently throwing the kids to the ground.
Two boys aged five and six suffered serious injuries, while a 10-year-old girl suffered minor scrapes after being thrown from the inflatable toy in the village of South Glen Falls, the Post-Star reported.
The girl’s mother told the Star her daughter was near the castle’s door and was tossed out as it lifted off the ground.
“My older daughters witnessed it and said it was just horrible,” she said. “A big gust of wind just blew it right off the ground with the kids in it. It’s just sickening.”
The two boys fell out of the castle when it was more than 15 feet in the air, police said.
Taylor Seymour, who witnessed the incident, said one boy was thrown “30 or 40 feet” onto a nearby street, while the second boy was thrown roughly 20 feet onto the back of her car.
A neighbour told the paper one of the boys suffered a traumatic head injury while the second suffered broken bones. Both were reportedly conscious and alert before being airlifted to the Albany Medical Centre.
Witnesses said the bouncy castle continued to rise more than 50 feet into the air, clearing a large stretch of woods before landing in a field behind a middle school, where it was recovered by police.
Sudden gusts of wind can be dangerous for children playing with toys that are susceptible to being lifted off the ground. Bouncy castles have injured dozens of children as they become more popular and even trampolines have proven hazardous.
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