New York Daily News
(TNS)
A 5-year-old boy was killed and another child injured after a wind gust lofted a bouncy house 15 to 20 feet into the air at a Maryland baseball game, carried it over a wall and dropped it onto the playing field, as children fell out.
The tragedy happened just before 9:30 p.m. Friday as the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs baseball team was playing the York Revolution, authorities in Charles County said. The bounce house, which had been set up at Regency Furniture Stadium to amuse kids while the game was being played, had been secured to the ground by stakes, witnesses told WRC-TV.
Police did not say how many children were inside when it became airborne, and what caused the wind to overcome the stakes.
First responders were already on hand for the game and rushed over to tend to the children, along with trainers and volunteer EMTs who were attending, authorities said.
A 5-year-old boy from La Plata, Maryland, was pronounced dead at Children’s Hospital after being rushed there with life-threatening injuries, and a second child whose age was not given was flown to a hospital by helicopter. The second child’s injuries were not life-threatening, police said.
“We extend our deepest empathy to the children and their families during this difficult time,” Charles County Government Commissioner President Reuben Collins II said in a statement. “We thank our EMS team and the Maryland State Police for their swift actions to ensure the children received immediate care.”
The team canceled the game that had been scheduled for Saturday against the York Revolution and said it would offer counseling and other support to those who were at the game, including families players and fans. The teams are part of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball league.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the affected families and the Southern Maryland community during this difficult time,” the team said on its website.
“Our entire organization shares our condolences with the family mourning the loss of a child, and concern for the child who was injured,” team general manager Courtney Knichel said in the county’s statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with them all.”
Bounce houses have been known to be ripped from their moorings by wind, with tragic results. In 2021 five children died in Australia when gusts swept up an inflatable castle more than 30 feet into the air, sending nine fifth- and sixth-graders tumbling earthward. In 2019, a bounce house flipped over outside a high school in Washington State, injuring five students. Similar incidents have occurred over the years in South Carolina and upstate New York, where a flying bounce house, unoccupied at the time, became entangled in power lines.
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