OSHKOSH, WIS. — A woman attending a Christian festival died Saturday after plunging about 45 feet from a bungee-like amusement ride.
Workers at the Lifest 2007 event shut down the Air Glory ride after the accident, which occurred about 4:45 p.m. A prayer service was held at 7 p.m. and the music festival resumed about 7:30 p.m.
The woman, whose name and age was not released by Oshkosh police, was pronounced dead at a hospital several hours after the accident.
Lifest is an annual Christian music festival that also features rides and sports.
An announcement about the death was made from a stage just after 9:30 p.m. The music continued but with more mellow worship songs.
Oshkosh Police Sgt. Todd Wrage said few details were available Saturday night.
“What we do know, from the reports we’ve gotten, is that she apparently fell 40 to 50 feet,” Wrage said.
The Air Glory ride is described as a ride whose mechanism is similar to bungee-jumping.
Brian Childers of Kenosha was in line for the ride and witnessed the fall.
Two people went up in the ride, and when they pulled the release Childers said he heard a snapping sound. One person fell and the other remained swinging in the ride, he said.
“(The person) hit the ground and she was not moving at all,” Childers told the Oshkosh Northwestern newspaper.
