Boy, 5, Killed in Freak Accident at Baseball Game

A Maryland baseball game turned tragic when a bounce house got caught up in strong winds, killing a 5-year-old inside and injuring another child. NBC Washington reports that the inflatable was set up for kids Friday night at a Southern Maryland Blue Crabs game at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf, when a wind gust caused the bounce house to go airborne with children inside. A release notes that the structure flew "15 to 20 feet up in the air" shortly after 9pm ET, flying over a wall and onto the baseball field, "causing children to fall" out of it before it touched back down on the ground, per the AP.

Members of Charles County EMS who were already at the scene for the game, as well as trainers from the baseball team and volunteer first responders, rushed to attend to the victims, including a 5-year-old boy from La Plata who had severe injuries. That child was airlifted to a nearby children's hospital, where he was pronounced dead, officials say. They add that a second child, 6, was flown to the same hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, per the New York Times. It's not clear how many kids were in the bounce house when it went up into the sky.

It's not clear if the bounce house was swept away by a gust too strong to withstand, or if it wasn't properly secured. Witnesses tell NBC that it appeared to be staked to the ground. The Consumer Product Safety Commission tells the Times that bounce houses shouldn't be used when max wind speeds are more than 15mph to 25mph, while the UK's Amusement Devices Safety Council says such structures should be held down with at least a half-dozen anchor points. The Blue Crabs canceled their game the next evening, as well as all other Saturday activities. "We extend our deepest empathy to the children and their families during this difficult time," says Reuben B. Collins II, president of Charles County's Board of Commissioners, per the release. (More bounce house stories.)