Two separate investigations got under way today after a Russian circus performer died during a trapeze stunt in Co Clare last night.
Circus spokesman Tom Courtney
The man (26) was killed during a performance with his wife at the Russian Circus in Scariff.
It is believed ropes gave way underneath him during a routine and he fell onto cages on the ground.
He was pronounced dead at Ennis General Hospital. His wife suffered a broken arm.
The man was later named as Vital Khrapavitski.
The accident happened in front of an audience of about 100 people, including children, at the GAA ground shortly after 7.30pm. It was the first of two performances to be held in the town by the touring circus.
The gardaí and Health and Safety Authority have launched two separate inquiries into the accident at the Royal Russian Circus. A spokesperson for the Health and Safety Authority confirmed that an investigator is at the scene this morning but could not say how long the investigation was likely to take.
Circus spokesman Tom Courtney said the performers were relatively new to their routine.
"He's 26 years old, they're a young couple, Russian," he said. "The wife, it was originally her father's act and the information we have is that his wife's father had trained this young man to do it and apparently it was their first year out performing this act."
Mr Courtney said investigators were still trying to discover what went wrong.
"We haven't determined yet what has happened. It will be for the technical people to determine that but as far as we know, some of his rigging became detached from his prop and tragically it fell down," he said.
"Generally we're in charge of the tent and all that but artists, their props are their responsibility but they are familiar with it, nobody else can do it and they are trained to do that themselves, so in actual fact nobody can interfere with their props," he said. "It's a rule in the circus that every artist looks after his own props."
Mr Courtney told RTE Radio that no decision had yet been made about future performances of the circus. "We're responsible for a lot of people so we'll make those decisions at a later date, whenever the technical people are finished with their investigations."
"We were all sitting down and they were doing their act, they were up fairly high they were doing fine," eyewitness Hazel Harrington told TV3 news. "Next thing he was down on the ground."