Five children die, several others critically injured after jumping castle blown into air at Tasmanian school

Multiple ambulances rushed to the Hillcrest Primary School after the incident.(ABC News: Monte Bovill)

Five children have died and four others remain in hospital after wind picked up a jumping castle and threw it into the air at an end-of-year activity day at a Tasmanian primary school.

WARNING: This story contains details of the incident and photographs that some readers may find distressing.

Several grade 5 and 6 students fell from a height of about 10 metres, causing serious injuries, when wind blew the jumping castle into the air at Hillcrest Primary School in Devonport, in the state’s north-west.

Police confirmed on Thursday evening that another child had died in hospital after the incident, taking the death toll to five.

Earlier, police had confirmed four students had died after the tragedy.

“These children were meant to be celebrating their last day of primary school, instead we’re all mourning their loss,” Tasmania Police Commissioner Darren Hine said this afternoon.

“Emergency services were called to the scene around 10am this morning after a wind gust had reportedly caused the jumping castle and inflatable zorb balls to lift into the air,” Commissioner Hine said.

“Of the four [deceased] children, two were boys and two were girls.

“Our thoughts are also with those emergency services personnel who attended to try and save these people’s lives.”

Police have not confirmed what was used to anchor down the jumping castle, and have not released the ages of the children involved.

The coroner has attended the scene at the primary school, with a police investigation underway into how the incident occurred.

Commissioner Hine said the investigation would take “quite some time”.

“Sadly, there are a number of people and witnesses there that need to be interviewed, so it will take quite some time and will be guided by the coroner,” he said.

Tim Bullard, secretary of the Tasmanian Education Department, said his immediate priority was to support the children, families and staff who were impacted by the incident.

“We’re coordinating a range of services as a critical response to support students, families and staff, and our approach is being guided by our senior psychologists, who are trained in trauma-informed practice,” Mr Bullard said.

“We have a team of professional support staff onsite to immediately provide support to students and staff, and this includes our psychologists, social workers and chaplains.

“The staff will also be onsite tomorrow, with ongoing support being provided through the weekend and going into the holidays.