Kayla Reynolds, 10, with her mum, Kimmee Reynolds recalls what happens when she fell off the ferris wheel. Photo / ABC News
Kayla Reynolds, 10, with her mum, Kimmee Reynolds recalls what happens when she fell off the ferris wheel. Photo / ABC News
One of the three young girls who plummeted from a faulty Ferris wheel in Tennessee has opened up about the terrifying ordeal.
Kayla Reynolds, 10, her six-year-old sister Briley and another girl, 16, fell about 12 metres when the ride's basket flipped at Greene County Fair on August 8.
Kaylasuffered a broken arm, but her younger sister remains hospitalised with a traumatic brain injury.
"Me and my sister were crying. We were just like trying to hold onto stuff and didn't know what to do," Kayla told Good Morning America. "We were probably sitting there with it tilted for maybe not even a minute ... hoping it would turn back and then we just started falling."
Kayla's parents, Kimmee and Jason Reynolds, said they tried to alert the operator that something was wrong by yelling "stop, stop, stop now!" The couple watched in horror as their young daughters hit the ground.
"Kayla took the most hits. She hit the gondola beneath them, then she hit a bar and then she hit the ground. She was alert, though. When she hit the ground, she was awake," Mrs Reynolds said, crying.
"[Briley] smacked the top of the other gondola and she went straight to the ground. When she hit, she knocked out. Her eyes rolled back in her head."
Mr Reynolds added: "I was going to try to break their fall or something. What are you supposed to do? It's scary."
The couple has called for better safety standards and inspections for carnival rides in Tennessee, where seat belts and lap restraints are not legally required.
"You're going to a fair thinking it is safe, expecting certain standards ... thinking you are putting your child on something they are going to come off of fine," Mrs Reynolds said.
Members of the Greeneville Fire Department help people off the ferris wheel at the Greene County Fair in Greeneville. Photo / AP
While Briley is in a stable condition, the condition of the 16-year-old girl is not known.
Family Attractions Amusement Company, which owned the ride, told ABC News: "By no means do we take this lightly as our main concern is the safety of the families who visit our midway each week. We wish the children health and a speedy recovery as we continue to keep them in our prayers."
