Arrests after girl, 7, dies while playing on a bouncy castle

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald-AP

LONDON (AP) — Two arrests have been made in Britain after a seven-year-old girl died while using a bouncy castle at an Easter fair.

The girl died after the inflatable castle at Harlow Town Park, 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of London, was swept away by a strong gust of wind. The girl was treated at the scene and taken to a hospital by air ambulance but still died.

Police says Sunday a man and a woman from a bouncy castle firm have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter. They have not been identified.

Ray Smith of the Showmans Guild of Great Britain said the castle had been displaced by "a sudden gust." He said if the winds had been consistently high, the castle and other inflatables would have been closed.

Read more: http://www.omaha.com/news/world/arrests-after-girl-dies-while-playing-on-a-bouncy-castle/article_5e8d5050-3846-585c-9ca0-e45db5ec5c52.html

[CentralMass]

1. That is tragic. I rented and setup these inflatable bouncers

numerous times for backyard birthday parties when my kids were young. They all had large metal spikes that were 3 or 4 feet long that had to driven in with a sledgehammer to anchor them. Even still, I'm not a big fan of them or backyard trampolines. We always made sure an adult was closely watching.

[Bad Dog]

4. Apparently this isn't a fly by night operation.

Members of the fairground community have been queuing up to sing the family's praises. They say this only happened because of a sudden gust, that had the wind been ongoing it would have been shut down and that safety regulations would have been followed to the letter.

We won't know the truth until the HSE has thoroughly investigated, but if that is the case the laws on these things need to be tightened up even more.

[Kaleva]

5. There's several videos on Youtube showing these things taking off.