Boy, 9, seriously injured as wind sweeps zorb into air at Southport Food and Drink Festival

A nine-year-old boy has been airlifted to hospital after being seriously injured when an inflatable zorb he was in got caught by a gust of wind and flew high up into the air before plunging back down to the ground.

Emergency services were called to Southport Food and Drink Festival at Victoria Park at around 2pm on Sunday and the child was taken away by air ambulance for medical treatment.

The boy was inside an inflatable zorb ball on a lake, which was unexpectedly raised into the air before it landed on the grass. A second zorb ball containing another child was also raised at the same time, but thankfully this child was unharmed.

An eye witness said: “There was a huge gust of wind out of nowhere, causing people’s umbrellas, drinks and plates to fly about, then the wind ramped up in a split second. They told Sky News: “One child was blown out of the pool and the second just flew up in the air at approximately 100ft (30m) and then landed heavily - we didn’t see him land, but we saw him fly up.”

A spokesperson for Sefton Council said: "First aid responders from St John Ambulance reacted quickly to provide assistance to the person involved prior to the arrival of other emergency services. Our thoughts are with those involved in the accident and we wish them a full recovery."

Appeal for information: Merseyside Police are urging anyone who may have captured images or videos of the incident to get in touch to help establish the circumstances of what happened.

How to contact police: To send us any images or videos, please use the following link: https://unitedkingdom1cpp-portal.digital-policing.co.uk/merseyside/appeal/incident-at-victoria-park If you have any information, DM @MerPolCC or @CrimestoppersUK on 0800 555 111 quoting reference 596.