[imagesource:twitter/@manyapan]

It seems Saturday was a doomed day for acrobats.

On the same day that an acrobat performing at Coachella in California was seriously injured after falling during an aerial display, a Chinese acrobat twirling in the air with her husband lost her grip and fell to her death.

Video footage of the incident in Hougao village in the eastern Anhui Province shows the couple being pulled high into the air by a crane. The woman then hangs off the man by locking her hands behind his head, but somehow loses her grip and plunges onto the hard stage below.

The Daily Beast notes how clips of the incident went viral across China over the weekend, according to What’s On Weibo, with graphic images showing the female acrobat brutally hitting the floor:

A lot of discussions on Chinese socials today about the fatal accident that happened last night in Suzhou during a live acrobatic show. The female performer did not wear safety lines and she fell. She was rushed to hospital but passed away. (video end cut due to shocking content) pic.twitter.com/l5DCf0ilN1

— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) April 16, 2023

Reports say that she was rushed to the hospital where she later died of her injuries:

One colleague of the acrobat, identified in state media as Sun Moumou, told reporters that Sun was “still breathing weakly” after the incident.

Social media users in China called out the venue for having a lack of safety measures in place, causing the emergency services to not get there in time, while other reports suggested that Sun had been arguing with her husband, named as Zhang Moumou, before the performance, and that she’d refused to wear a safety line:

Zhou later told the Yangzi Evening News the accusations were incorrect. “We were always happy together,” he said. “There was no fight. As I am in the middle of the process of dealing with all of this, I can’t disclose any specific details at this time.”

Sun will be leaving behind a son and a daughter whom she had with Zhang.

What an ill-fated day for acrobats.

[source:dailybeast]