A female circus performer from a Colombian troupe was rushed to the hospital after falling off a tightrope 16 feet in the air in front of a horrified audience in England. <br /><br />The unidentified performer was seen in a video perched on the back of a chair that sat on a pole held by two men standing on a tightrope at a Gravity Circus performance at the Glye Gap Field in East Sussex on Monday. <br /><br />As she crouched to lower herself into the seat slowly, balancing her feet on the railings of the chair, the pole began to wobble. <br /><br />As she dropped onto the seat, her foot appeared to slip and she went tumbling off the apparatus along with the chair. <br /><br />About halfway down, the chair hit what appeared to be a wire, smacking into her and sending her into a freefalling backflip until she hit the ground knees first. <br /><br />The force of the impact sent her upper body into a spin until she finally landed in a fetal position on the metal ground and appeared to be unconscious. <br /><br />'It looked like her leg gave way. She lost balance and went flying down wrapped around the wire,' witness Hayley Welsh told BBC. 'She smashed down onto the metal floor.' <br /><br />The woman sustained 'serious' but non-life-threatening injuries, according to South East Coast Ambulance Service (Seacamb) told People. <br /><br />Gravity Circus told a fan in their comment section that the performer was 'doing well and is in safe hands.' <br /><br />Seacamb said she suffered from 'facial and other injuries consistent with a fall' and she was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, according to People. <br /><br />The woman was a part of the High Wire Troupe from Colombia, according to Gravity Circus. <br /><br />The company acknowledged that in live entertainment, 'accidents can unfortunately happen despite stringent safety measures,' BBC reported. <br /><br />'Our primary concern is the wellbeing of the performer, their family, the high wire troupe, and our entire circus family,' it said. 'We are closely monitoring the situation and conducting a thorough investigation.' <br /><br />Their upcoming performances are planned as scheduled and Gravity Circus plans on giving an update on the performer soon.
