Aparty celebrating the end of classes for the year took a deadly turn after winds in Australia lifted an inflatable castle more than 30 feet into the air, with several primary school students still inside.
The freak accident unfolded on Thursday around 10 a.m. outside Hillcrest Primary School in Devonport, located on the island of Tasmania, Australia’s ABC News reported. Fifth and sixth graders were all gathered together in a large field for a holiday celebration complete with games and dancing when “a significant” gust of wind lifted the bounce house as well as several inflatable “Zorb Balls” off the ground according to police Commissioner Darren Hine.
Four children were pronounced dead on the scene and a fifth later succumbed to their injuries at a nearby hospital. Hine said the fatalities include two girls and two boys while the gender of the fifth child was not clear.
Several others were also left critically injured while another student was left hospitalized in fair condition.
Typically children in grade six are between 10 and 12 years old.
“On a day where these children were meant to be celebrating their last day at primary school, instead we are all mourning their loss,” Hine said during a press conference Thursday afternoon.
“Our hearts are breaking for the families and loved ones, school mates and teachers of those children taken too soon.”