Terrifying moment two trapeze artists plunge four metres during a performance

This is the moment two trapeze artists plunged four metres to the ground after an act went terrifyingly wrong.

The trapeze artists were performing an aerial show at a WA Police Social Club ball in Perth’s Hyatt Regency hotel on Thursday night.

Confronting footage of the accident begins with the man and woman towards the end of their routine.

The man can be seen holding on to the rigging with his legs curled around as he holds the woman by her legs, both suspended upside down in the air.

As the pair began to move to their next movement, one of the bolt’s in the trapeze fell out during the aerial show, 9 News reports.

As a result, the male trapeze artist’s legs gave way making him drop the woman as they both came crashing down. 

Stephen Chan attended the police ball and said the woman hit the side of her head on the stage while the male performer fell.

‘The crowd gasped in shock and horror and the organisers and colleagues of the artists quickly rushed to their side,’ Mr Chan told Perth now. 

The two performers from circus company Kinetica were taken to Royal Perth Hospital. Both of them have since been discharged without serious injury.

Kinetica co-director Rebecca McMahon said the trapeze duo were lucky to have not sustianed any major head or spinal injuries from the four-metre fall.

Ms McMahon told The West Australian that equipment failure – rather than human error by the performers – was most likely behind the accident. 

‘They had already done full rehearsals at the Hyatt and there was nothing to indicate there was anything wrong with the rigging prior to when the accident happened,’ Ms McMahon said. 

State government agency WorkSafe responsible for overseeing occupation, health and safety procedures is currently investigating with the aerialists and the hotel’s staff. 

Ms McMahon said equipment failure – rather than human error by the performers – was most likely behind the accident