London - Rio organisers are investigating after a suspended TV camera plunged 65ft on to a concourse in Olympic Park.
Seven people were injured when ropes snapped and a ‘spidercam’ the size of a small motorbike plummeted to the ground on Monday.
Footage showed two women with blood around their nose and arm respectively and a woman on a stretcher being loaded into an ambulance.
International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said: ‘Thankfully no one was seriously injured. We’re trying to work out with security and the people responsible what exactly happened.’
The camera was being used by the official Olympic Broadcasting Services, which realised the camera was at risk of falling and fenced off the area below. ‘They thought the wire could hold for a little bit more. (But) the camera fell and hit one of the fences that was isolating the area,’ a Games spokesman said. It wasn’t the first infrastructure problem at the Games, where the marathon swimming starting platform was washed on to Copacabana beach by strong currents.
Safety concerns have also been raised after two stray bullets hit the equestrian venue and stone-throwing youths attacked a media bus.
Daily Mail