Little girl dies after bouncy castle explodes and catapults her into the air

A girl (3) from Suffolk who died after a bouncy castle “exploded” on a packed Gorleston Beach, Norfolk, UK, on Sunday has been named as Ava-May Littleboy

Officers were called to Lower Esplanade around 11.15am following reports a child had been thrown from a bouncy castle.

She was visiting the beach with her family when the tragedy happened.

Picture: Facebook

The  girl was taken to the James Paget Hospital, where she died.

One witness said: “Just seen the most horrific thing in my life. A bouncy castle exploded at the beach and the child on it was catapulted about 20ft (6.1m) into the air.

“PLEASE do not allow your children on a bouncy castle in this heat and PLEASE say a prayer for the 3-year-old [who was] rushed to hospital after 15 minutes of CPR.

“Totally heartbroken to hear that the little girl didn’t make it. Thoughts and prayers go out to her family.”

A police cordon was set up around the beach’s Bounce About play area. The children’s play area is blocked off but the rest of the beach remains open to the public, according to a reporter at the scene.

A joint investigation between the Health and Safety Executive, local authority and police has been launched into the circumstances around the incident.

A postmortem was held on Monday afternoon.

Police spokesman Roger Wiltshire said: “Her family are obviously distressed, we cannot imagine what they are going through and our specially trained officers are with them and will be with them for as long as they need them.”