Seven people – including two children – are injured when an overhead TV camera falls 65ft onto spectators in the Olympic Park

SEVEN people have been injured after an overhead television camera plummeted 65ft onto unsuspecting spectators at Olympic Park yesterday.

The disaster occurred when cables suspending the massive camera snapped, sending it spiralling down into screaming crowds.

Injured fans were left bleeding and dazed, while one was taken from the scene on a stretcher and another was fitted with a neck brace.

The incident marks the latest embarrassment for Olympic organisers in Rio de Janeiro as near-daily incidents involving robbery or violence plague South America's first games.

The aerial camera, encased in a heavy black cover, belonged to the official Olympics broadcast unit and fell about 65ft.

"I was looking to the camera... and suddenly I heard a big snap on the cable and the camera came down," said visitor Chris Adams, a member of the British gymnastics delegation.

A Brazilian television news report showed two women looking dazed, sitting on the ground near the camera.

One woman, bleeding from the face as medics arrived, was taken away on a stretcher. The other walked from the scene wearing a neck brace.

A total of four people were taken to hospital after the incident, including two children who had been hit by a cable, a Rio Games official said.

All were expected to be discharged from hospital later on Monday, the official said.

One of the camera's cables had already broken before it fell and a walkway directly beneath had been cordoned off while the Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) unit arranged for a cherry-picker to go to the scene and hoist someone up to it, OBS said.

But the camera came down at an angle, falling outside the cordon, said Adams, the British visitor, who was taking pictures of the park at the time.

"There was a lot of medical people and Rio staff around. They were very, very quick, they were excellent."

Rio organisers have been struggling with a series of security and logistical problems.
Bulgarian media reported on Monday that the country's sports minister, Krasen Kralev, had been robbed of his watch while entering the Olympic athletics stadium.

"I have not said this before because I didn't want it to sound like a complaint," Kralev, a former long-distance runner, was quoted as saying.

He declined to say when he had been robbed or give any other details of the incident.

A few days into the Games, Portugal's education minister was robbed at knife point at the Olympic lake. He escaped unharmed and the assailant was arrested, Brazilian authorities said.

Also in the first week, bullets flew into the equestrian centre, a Games bus was attacked with stones and the diving and waterpolo pools turned green with algae.

Several athletes, including Great Britain's bronze medallist Greg Rutherford, have also reported being robbed of their mobile phones.

And U.S. gold medallist swimmer Ryan Lochte and three of his team mates were subjected to armed robbery at the weekend.

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