Dramatic footage shows a “mini tornado” near the park where a nine-year-old boy in a zorb ball was catapulted into the air.
The freak weather phenomenon, known as a dust devil, was captured on camera near Victoria Park in Southport, Merseyside, where the incident happened on Sunday afternoon.
One witness recalled staff rushing to remove all other children from the attraction after the boy flew “15 to 20m into the sky”.
Merseyside Police today said he remains in hospital in a serious but stable condition.
Footage of the dust devil formed part of an investigation which has been passed from police to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
The incident happened at the Southport Food and Drink Festival where the zorb flew above the trees before crashing down.
Emergency crew scrambled to the scene and the boy was airlifted to hospital by air ambulance.
Officers said a second zorb was also raised but the child inside was unharmed.
Paul Holmes, 43, who was in the park, recalled seeing two zorbs rise into the sky and screaming out “there’s a kid in one of those balls, someone catch him” before running over to help.
“The minute I shouted 'there's a boy in the sky' the staff at the inflatable place were quick to get all of the kids out of the remaining balls in the pit,” he told the Liverpool Echo.
"I don't know if the parents jumped in or just the staff but they were quick taking them out of the remaining balls. One of the zorb balls didn't go that high and landed.
"The main zorb of concern I would say was probably 15 to 20 metres in the sky, easily. The wind just whipped it up into the sky. It was like a bit of a freak weather phenomena."
Natalie Hall shared footage of the dust devil on social media, commenting “must be this mini tornado”.
Dust devils are upward spiralling dust-filled vortexes of air that vary in height from a few feet to more than 1,000ft, according to the Met Office.
The phenomenon mainly occurs in desert and semi-arid areas where the ground is dry and high surface temperatures produce strong updrafts, it adds.
Unlike tornados, they grow upwards from the ground rather than down from the clouds and only last a few minutes because cool air is sucked into the base, cutting off its heat supply.
A spokesperson from the HSE said: “We are investigating an incident in Southport on Sunday June 4 in which a nine-year-old-boy was seriously injured. We’ll provide further updates when appropriate.”
