Circus aerial team's fall caused by broken tooth

A fall of around 10 meters that left two circus performers injured in the Carre theater in Amsterdam on Friday, was caused by one of the performers breaking a tooth, World Christmas Circus producer Henk van der Meijden told De Telegraaf and ANP.

The fall happened during an act called Sky Angels. It consists of a man and a woman performing acrobatic stunts, often swinging through the air with no safety net below. The male performer sustained only a concussion. The woman had to undergo surgery on her neck. The operation was successful, but only time will tell how well she will recover, Van der Meijden said.

"They saw in the hospital that he was missing a tooth", the circus producer said to the Telegraaf. "According to him, that is also the cause. The tooth broke off and as a result the pressure dropped in his mouth, with which he was biting down on the bit on which she hung."

After the accident, the World Christmas Circus performance was immediately halted. The show started up again on Saturday.