Acrobat falls through safety net during circus show in Moscow

Friday, March 1, 2013: In this photo provided by The Great Moscow State Circus on Thursday, March 14, 2013, a group of acrobats, one of them, Karo Christopher Kazungu performs during a premiere show at The Great Moscow State Circus in Moscow. The Great Moscow State Circus said Kazungu fell through a safety net during a show Wednesday night and was rushed to a hospital with severe injuries including a fractured vertebra. (AP/The Great Moscow State Circus)

MOSCOW – A Kenyan acrobat fell through a safety net during a show at a Moscow circus and was rushed to a hospital with severe injuries including a fractured vertebra.

An amateur video aired on Russian television showed 22-year-old Karo Christopher Kazungu falling through the safety net and onto the arena floor during the Wednesday evening show.

The Great Moscow State Circus said on its website on Thursday that Kazungu was conscious when he was taken to the hospital. Russian news agencies quoted the director of the acrobatics show as saying that Kazungu was diagnosed with a fracture of one vertebra and was in intensive care.

Kazungu was one of a dozen Russian and Kenyan performers who were taking part in a highly complex acrobatics show.

Edgard Zapashny, director general of the circus, told Russian television that the circus had never had any incidents of this kind and that the German-made safety net had been rigorously tested at the circus before it was used.