Mom: Girls injured in Ferris wheel accident improving

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — The mother of two of the girls who fell from a county fair's Ferris wheel earlier this week as its basket overturned said Thursday will be an important day in their recovery.

At about  6:15 p.m. ET Monday, Briley and Kayla Reynolds, ages 6 and 10, fell 35 to 40 feet from the Ferris wheel at the Greene County Fair here, authorities said. They and their 16-year-old companion, whose name has not been released, were transported to Johnson City, Tenn., where they are patients at Niswonger Children's Hospital.

Briley has a concussion and a small brain bleed, her mother, Kimmee Reynolds said Wednesday on Facebook. Kayla's arm has a bad break.

On the helicopter ride to the hospital, Briley had seizures, was sedated and was placed on a ventilator, her mother said. Along with facial swelling, she has a fever and possibly a bacterial infection.

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The 6-year-old has been listed in critical condition and responded Tuesday to some family members' voices by moving her feet and hands, Reynolds wrote.

"I can't wait till Briley can partake in the food and read your comments aloud to us," Reynolds posted just after midnight Thursday. "Tomorrow will be a long day. Please remember us as we try to come off of some of the meds again to see how she is responding. Her scans looked good and the fever has gone down for the most part today."

Reynolds said she hopes that Kayla will be released soon but had developed a fever Wednesday that doctors are monitoring.

While the 16-year-old girl initially came to the hospital in critical condition, she is now stable, doctors said in a Tuesday briefing. She celebrated her birthday Wednesday at the hospital, Reynolds said.

Meanwhile, reports indicate that a mechanical problem caused the car to dump the three children, Capt. Tim Davis of the Greeneville Police Department said.

1 girl critically injured in fall from fair's Ferris wheel

"(C)ar No. 9 got caught on a bar," causing it to tip 90 degrees and the children to fall 25 feet or more to the ground, according to an accident report form submitted to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development by ride operator Family Attractions Amusement and the Greene County Fair Board of Directors.

Organizers of the Greene County Fair kept their carnival-ride operator despite a North Carolina incident in October 2013 that injured five and caused the owners’ son to be jailed.

At the North Carolina State Fair, five people were injured when an Italian-made ride called the Vortex unexpectedly restarted as they were trying to get off the ride, flinging them through the air and down to the steel deck below. Instigators determined that ride operators had disabled a safety mechanism.

Contributing: The Associated Press