On Thursday morning, high-wire daredevil Nik Wallenda addressed the media on the accident that injured 5 performers at Circus Sarasota on Wednesday.
Wallenda thanked God for a miracle and praised the first responders for being quick and "on it" as they worked to help those involved in the accident. He called Wednesday, the roughest day of his life.
"Our family through triumph and tragedy, we've continued on. I believe that words are powerful, and um, there was triumph through this tragedy, yes it was tragic, the entire incident, it was a nightmare. But there's triumph through it. There were 8 of us on that wire, we had been training for about 2 months, our intentions were to break a Guinness World Record, which we have broke on multiple occasions training in this tent."
The team was practicing on Wednesday to perform the 8-person pyramid on Thursday night at Circus Sarasota to break that world record. Wallenda explained what happened leading up to the fall.
He said the 8 performers were halfway out on the wire but it is unknown what exactly caused them to fall. He said that there was talk that someone at the front of the group fainted and there is also talk that some of them just lost their balance.
Wallenda, his cousin and another performer were able to hold on to the wire. The other five fell to the ground. Wallenda said he was sore from the impact he took but it was nothing compared to what everyone else suffered.
All of the victims injured in the accident will walk again. Their injuries include broken toes, a broken pelvis, a broken arm, facial fractures and the good news, no spinal injuries.
|NOW| Nik Wallenda says 4 of 8 on wire were family & 2 females, aunt and sister, fell and were seriously hurt @abcactionnews pic.twitter.com/gMkPZkLbss
— CarsonChambers (@CarsonChambers) February 9, 2017
One of the performers was as high as 40 feet in the air and he will walk away from this accident.
He stressed that what he and his team are doing is dangerous but that everyone on the team understands they are taking a risk.
Nik Wallenda: "yesterday was the roughest day of my life."
Despite the shock and confusion of the accident, Wallenda believes the show must go on. He announced that he will still perform at Circus Sarasota on Thursday night.
"I live, die, eat, drink and sleep, circus performing."
NOW: Nik Wallenda says 8 man pyramid won't happen... but he will perform high wire act w/ some performers who fell pic.twitter.com/BeWwwaq6iE
— CarsonChambers (@CarsonChambers) February 9, 2017
