The performer, 31-year-old Sarah Guyard, was pronounced dead shortly before midnight Saturday, the Clark County, Nevada, medical examiner’s office told CNN. The cause of death had not been determined Sunday afternoon.
The accident happened during the show’s finale, said Cirque Du Soleil spokeswoman Renee-Claude Menard. During the scene, performers are suspended up to 50 feet in the air on lines controlled by wireless remote controls, according to the troupe’s website.
Guillot-Guyard “was being hoisted up the side of the stage and then just plummeted down,” witness Dan Mosqueda told the Las Vegas Sun newspaper.
“Initially, a lot of people in the audience thought it was part of the choreographed fight. But you could hear screaming, then groaning, and we could hear a female artist crying from the stage.”
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