A Chinese acrobat has fallen to her death during an aerial silks performance, sparking horror and outcry on social media over the lack of safety measures.
The woman, surnamed Sun, fell to the stage while performing a mid-air routine on Saturday with her husband in a village near the city of Suzhou in central Anhui province. She was taken to hospital but died of her injuries, the Tongqiao district government said in a statement Monday.
Online footage of the incident showed the couple being pulled high into the air by a crane above a large outdoor stage, with the woman holding on to her husband whose arms were wrapped around two pieces of fabric hanging from the crane.
As they swung in mid-air, the woman wrapped her arms around her husband’s head and hung off him during a transition act. But she lost her grip and and plunged to the hard stage amid screams from the crowd. Her husband attempted to catch her with his legs but failed, the footage showed.
Videos of the horrific moment shocked Chinese social media. Many users questioned why the woman did not wear any safety belt, and why there was no safety net or crash mat on the ground. Others called for stricter regulations on the acrobatic industry and better protection for performers.
“This kind of mid-air acrobatic performance is really dangerous. At least put a safety net underneath so the (performer) can be protected from falling,” said a comment on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform. “No matter how skilled the performers are, there will always be mistakes. How come there are no safety measures?”
