Published: June 1,2014
A wind gust sent an inflatable "bouncy" slide flying hundreds of feet
across a field in Littleton, Colorado Saturday, ejecting and injuring
two children that were aboard the slide when it took flight.
The incident unfurled at a lacrosse tournament in Jefferson County at around 2:40 p.m. local time, according to KUSA-TV. According to witnesses at the scene, the slide suddenly lifted into the air and started tumbling across the field toward a pond, immediately ejecting a girl who was on the slide.
"All of a sudden, it picks up and there's a girl going down the slide," bystander Vannessa Atencio told KUSA-TV. "She flies about eight feet in the air. The slide tumbles across the field."
Fortunately, the girl only sustained minor injuries and was released at the scene.
(MORE: Bounce House Launched More Than 20 Feet Into Air)
However, the girl wasn't the only child aboard the slide. Unbeknownst to onlookers, a boy was trapped on the inflatable object as it tumbled across the field. The local fire department told KUSA that the boy was carried anywhere from 200 to 300 feet across the field with the slide before it came to a rest right in front of a pond.
The boy was reportedly "really beat up and shook up" but the local hospital said he didn't sustain any life threatening injuries.
Representatives from the slide's operator, Airbound, said that the slide was staked down when it was lifted into the air and that safety precautions were taken.
But what caused the slide to hurtle across the field?
According to weather.com meteorologist Nick Wiltgen, weather in the area may have sparked the incident.
"At around that time there were showers in the area that were producing wind gusts up to 40 mph," said Wiltgen. "The background winds were relatively light at the time, but sudden wind gusts could've occurred anywhere these showers were popping up and passing by."
The incident marks the second time in the last month that wind gusts have caused an inflatable "bouncy" house to take flight. In May, a Little Tikes bounce house in South Glens Falls, New York was catapulted more than 20 feet into the air by a wind gust, seriously injuring two boys.
MORE: Deadly Balkans Flooding
The incident unfurled at a lacrosse tournament in Jefferson County at around 2:40 p.m. local time, according to KUSA-TV. According to witnesses at the scene, the slide suddenly lifted into the air and started tumbling across the field toward a pond, immediately ejecting a girl who was on the slide.
"All of a sudden, it picks up and there's a girl going down the slide," bystander Vannessa Atencio told KUSA-TV. "She flies about eight feet in the air. The slide tumbles across the field."
Fortunately, the girl only sustained minor injuries and was released at the scene.
(MORE: Bounce House Launched More Than 20 Feet Into Air)
However, the girl wasn't the only child aboard the slide. Unbeknownst to onlookers, a boy was trapped on the inflatable object as it tumbled across the field. The local fire department told KUSA that the boy was carried anywhere from 200 to 300 feet across the field with the slide before it came to a rest right in front of a pond.
The boy was reportedly "really beat up and shook up" but the local hospital said he didn't sustain any life threatening injuries.
Representatives from the slide's operator, Airbound, said that the slide was staked down when it was lifted into the air and that safety precautions were taken.
But what caused the slide to hurtle across the field?
According to weather.com meteorologist Nick Wiltgen, weather in the area may have sparked the incident.
"At around that time there were showers in the area that were producing wind gusts up to 40 mph," said Wiltgen. "The background winds were relatively light at the time, but sudden wind gusts could've occurred anywhere these showers were popping up and passing by."
The incident marks the second time in the last month that wind gusts have caused an inflatable "bouncy" house to take flight. In May, a Little Tikes bounce house in South Glens Falls, New York was catapulted more than 20 feet into the air by a wind gust, seriously injuring two boys.
MORE: Deadly Balkans Flooding
Flooding in the Balkans
A red sign that reads 'Mine Field' sits on the
shore of the river Sava in the village of Domaljevac near the Bosnian
town of Orasje, Wednesday, May 21, 2014. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)
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