A five-year-old boy has died, and another child has been injured after strong winds lifted a bouncy castle into the air in Waldorf, Maryland.
The children were playing outside the Regency Furniture Stadium when the inflatable was carried 15 to 20 feet (4.5m to 6m) into the air and landed inside the stadium, where a baseball game was taking place. Some children fell to the ground before the bouncy castle landed, according to Charles County authorities.
Weather reports indicated that strong to severe storm conditions were expected in the afternoon and evening. CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, reported that the storms were predicted to bring damaging winds, intense lightning, and heavy rainfall. Authorities received a call about the incident at 21:21 local time on Friday (01:21 GMT on Saturday).
Emergency personnel and volunteer first responders quickly began patient care “within minutes of the incident,” according to Charles County officials. The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs postponed their game on Saturday, expressing their thoughts and prayers for the affected families and the broader southern Maryland community.
