Woman tells of terrifying moment 180ft Birmingham fairground ride crashed to the ground while she was in midair
A woman injured when a 180ft Christmas fairground ride crashed to the ground has spoken of the terrifying the moment it lurched backwards before dropping.
Louise Brown was on the City Starflyer swing chair ride in Birmingham city centre when it crashed.
Ms Brown, a mother who works at the BBC in the city, said: ‘This can never happen again – we are in shock and all I can think of is what if my kids were on the ride.’
Ms Brown suffered injuries to her face, legs and arms, adding that her colleague was also hurt. Pictures show her with cuts and bruises on her face.
‘We were on it having fun and then it just crashed to the ground,’ she said.
‘It felt like we were descending, not at the highest point but still quite high. We just dropped.
‘It went backwards first though, which I’ve never seen it do before.’
Louise Brown (pictured) was on the City Starflyer swing chair ride in Birmingham city centre when it crashed
Some 13 people were injured during the accident (pictured is the aftermath of the incident)
Police at the cordoned off Star Flyer ride in Centenary Square, Birmingham, on Friday morning
Pictured is the scene of the incident on Friday morning, with the ride taped off by police
Police and emergency services rushed to the scene and sealed off an area around attraction in Centenary Square following the incident on Thursday evening.
Video footage shared on social media shows chaotic scenes as rescue teams sealed off the area around the popular ride. Pictures also appear to show several gondolas on the ride tangled up in the wires.
Shocked witnesses describe hearing people ‘screaming in terror’ as the ride slammed to the ground.
John Spence, 45, from Warwick, was at the fairground with his wife Julie, 42, and their ten-year-old son Harris.
He said: ‘We were near the ride when we heard screaming. It wasn’t your normal excited screams, this was screams of terror.
‘There was a loud whoosh and bang and then pandemonium. There were lots of people in hi-vis jackets running over to help people get off the ride.
‘Within a few minutes you could hear sirens. The emergency services were incredible and all so calm.
‘We stayed out the way because we didn’t want to make the situation worse but crowding around.’
Emergency services are seen at the scene of the disaster in Birmingham
Police have sealed off the ride while an investigation into the collapse continues today
Two people have been taken to hospital after a 180ft fairground ride ‘failed and crashed’ in Birmingham city centre (pictured is the fairground on Friday morning)
Another witness said: ‘We saw some of the people getting helped off the ride and several had bloody faces and were crying.
‘It was really shocking.’
Clips of the terrifying aftermath saw eyewitnesses describing how the ride suddenly collapsed – saying in disbelief ‘it was all the way up there and it fell, the thing fell.’
One bystander could be heard saying how there was ‘blood on someone’s face, reports The Sun.
West Midlands Fire Service confirmed it had ‘dropped to the ground’ while it was in operation.
One witness told the BBC he saw ‘girls who appeared to be injured’ walking away from the area, with ‘one girl who seemed to have her face cut’.
A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: ‘On arrival, crews found 13 patients.
‘Two women, were treated by ambulance staff for injuries not believed to be serious and conveyed to Midland Metropolitan University Hospital.
‘Nine women and three men were assessed by medics before being given self-care advice and discharged at the scene.’
Pictured is an ambulance as it appears to rush to the scene following the accident
Centenary Square, Birmingham, after the accident, with emergency services at the scene
Paramedics seemed to have a stretcher at the ready when they attended the scene
A picture of one of the broken chairs which were swung around on the ride
An image of a Star Flyer ride in Digbeth back in August, 2024
The City Starflyer ride is provided by funfair suppliers Danter Attractions and is described as ‘one of the tallest rides around’.
The company declined to comment.
Brian Hughes, chairman of Westside BID, the business improvement district for the area including Centenary Square, said in a statement: ‘Our first thoughts are with those who have been injured.
‘While we are relieved to have heard that no-one has received life-threatening injuries, this must have been a terrible incident to experience.
‘We have already spoken with the owners of Ice Skate Birmingham, which operates the ride, and we know that they will now be working closely with the authorities to find out exactly what went wrong.’
