Funfair worker tried to catch little girl who died when inflatable trampoline exploded on Norfolk beach
A funfair worker desperately tried to catch a little girl from Suffolk who died after she was thrown higher than a house when the inflatable trampoline that she was playing on exploded, an inquest heard.
Ava-May Littleboy was playing on the attraction when it burst on the beach at Gorleston-on-Sea in Norfolk on in July 2018.
The three-year-old, from Lower Somersham in Suffolk, landed on her face on the sand, the hearing in Norwich was told. She suffered a head injury and died in hospital.
Watch a report by ITV News Anglia's Rob Setchell
Ava-May was at the beach with her parents and wider family when her aunt Abbie Littleboy and Ms Littleboy's best friend Beth Jones took her to theinflatables.
Ms Jones, who is a nurse, said that while Ava-May was on the inflatable trampoline, she heard a loud bang then saw her flipping through the air.
Ms Jones said that she remembered "screaming 'catch her"' and a funfair worker "had her arms fully out to try to catch her, but she couldn't as it was so quick".
Abbie Littleboy said that the sides of the inflatable trampoline seemed"stiff", but added: "I didn't take much notice of it - I thought it needed tobe like it and that it needed more pressure.
"I just assumed it was how it was meant to be."
She said she heard a loud bang "like someone had set off a cannon", then saw Ava-May in the air.
"She was just flipping," she said.
"I just remember my little niece flipping. "Her eyes were closed and she didn't scream. I remember looking at her little face and I think the force that sent her up had already done something to her. It was like she was asleep."
Ms Jones tried to resuscitate Ava-May with the help of others on the beachbefore paramedics arrived.
Ava-May's mother Chloe Littleboy and father Nathan Rowe were on the beach some distance from the inflatables and Abbie Littleboy ran over to them.
Chloe Littleboy said, in a statement read by the coroner: "Although I wasscreaming I couldn't actually cry. I just stood there shaking and screaming."
She said she felt "out of control" and "unable to do anything".
The family were staying at a nearby holiday park and had bought Ava-May a kite and a bucket and spade that morning before heading to the beach, Ms Littleboy said.
Ava-May's father Nathan Rowe said, in a statement read by the coroner: "Myheart is scattered all over that beach. I will never go back there as long as I live."
Jacqueline Lake, Norfolk's senior coroner, said evidence will be heard aboutthe "acquisition of the inflatable trampoline, risk assessments carried out,working practices at Johnson Funfairs Limited and the responsibilities and roles within that business".
She said: "The evidence will not include the reason why the inflatabletrampoline exploded."
The inquest, which is sitting with a jury, is expected to last nine days.