100kg ‘spidercam’ crashes into crowd in Rio Olympic Park, injures 7
A giant spidercam has fallen into a crowd of tourists in Rio Olympic Park, injuring at least seven people, including children. Footage released online shows people running away screaming and a woman bleeding from the face.
The aerial camera suspended by cables was capturing images in the park. According to Brazilian media, the camera weighed some 100kg.
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The video shows two shocked women sitting on the ground near the crashed camera. One is seen bleeding from the face and the other was later observed wearing a neck brace.
“I was looking to the camera ... and suddenly I heard a big snap on the cable and the camera came down,” said visitor Chris Adams, a member of the British gymnastics delegation, as cited by Reuters.
Another witness named Natalia told AFP that she heard a noise, then she saw “the cable on the ground” and at first couldn’t figure out what happened.
“But I sat under the bridge and I heard a lot of noise, commotion, fire engines arriving and when I came over to this side I was told that a camera had fallen and I saw some women in the emergency vehicles,” she added.
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All in all seven people have been injured in the incident, officials confirmed to the media. Among them there are two children who were hit by a camera cable. Four of the injured were later taken to hospital, a Rio Games official said.
According to Olympic Broadcasting Services, the incident took place when a “pulling rope” used to guide the spidercam came down. This resulted in the “camera falling from a height of 20 meters onto a lower concourse,” the OBS spokesman added.
