Two boys are in a New York hospital in serious condition today after an inflatable house they were playing in went airborne.
A five and six-year old were dropped from the sky at 20 feet and sustained serious injuries. A 10-year old girl inside the "bouncy house" received minor injuries.
The incident happened Monday at 3:20 p.m. on Ferry Boulevard in South Glens Falls. Witnesses say the three children were playing inside a Little Tikes inflatable house resembling this Little Tikes Jump 'n Slide Bouncer. A description on the company's website says that the inflatable "must be firmly anchored in place," and the toy comes with six bouncer stakes.
A neighbor, Stephanie Hansel, said she watched the stakes go into the ground.
"I actually watched the fellow that put it up and he staked it and he did everything correctly," she told WNYT Albany. "All the kids were having fun until they screamed to me to come down and I saw that."
A gust of wind uprooted the bouncy house and lifted it 15-20 feet in the air. Taylor Seymour, whose sister was in the house, said she saw the house fly across the neighborhood.
"The first thing I thought was that was my sister falling through the sky, because all I saw was arms and legs going," she told WNYT.
"It dropped off the first little kid in the middle of the road, then it came the other way," she continued. "It passed over my apartment, it dropped the second one, he hit his head on the back of my car and then he fell to the ground."
While Seymour's sister had scrapes and a minor shoulder injury, one of the boys suffered broken bones, and the other a serious head injury.
Neighbors say that the man who owns the bounce house is upset about the unfortunate accident. He is not the father of the injured children.
The boys are receiving treatment at Albany Medical Center.
