# That's a hard act to follow....



## Johnny Thunder (Feb 24, 2006)

*Clown acrobat crushed to death in Ireland circus stunt accident *

Canadian Press

Published: Tuesday, August 29, 2006

DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) - A clown acrobat was crushed to death during a circus stunt that went wrong when a hot-air balloon caught on fire and broke, police and witnesses said Tuesday.

The accident at the touring Royal Russian Circus happened Monday night in Scariff, County Clare, a village in western Ireland, in front of about 100 people, most of them children. Police identified the dead performer as a 26-year-old man from Belarus but didn't release his name.

Witnesses said the man, dressed in a clown outfit, was hanging from a cage that was being suspended from a hot-air balloon inside the canvas tent. When the balloon exploded in flames, the cage crashed to the ground on top of the man. They said circus workers struggled to lift the cage off the man, but he was pronounced dead at nearby Ennis General Hospital.

The man's wife, who was also performing at the time, suffered a broken arm, police said.

"We were all sitting down and they were doing their act. They were up fairly high, but they were doing fine. Next thing, he was down on the ground," said one witness, Hazel Harrington. She said many people in the audience initially thought the falling cage was part of the act.

About a half-dozen local circuses, employing mostly Eastern European performers, tour Ireland each summer.


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## roadkill (May 11, 2006)

I wonder if he was Russian through his safety Czechs.

Where exactly was he in relation to the cage? I was thinking he was inside it but then again the cage landed on him so I guess he was hanging below the cage???

Perhaps they should have rethought using a very heavy cage as a prop. It only has to LOOK real - right?

I wonder if clowns make a funny sound when they get squashed by a steel cage?


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## Beepem (Jul 17, 2006)

it says the man was hanging from the cage


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## writer93 (Aug 29, 2006)

Ohh gosh, that's always been one way I'de HATE to die. Being crushed somehow. Thats terrible though.


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