An emotional Devonport Mayor has warned that Tasmania’s jumping castle tragedy will have a “huge ripple effect” through the “tight-knit” community.
Five children have died and four others are fighting for life after an inflatable playground was blown 10 metres into the air at Hillcrest Primary School on Thursday.
Watch Mayor Annette Rockliff speak to Sunrise above
“This is a small community of 25,000 people and everyone is interconnected, so everyone knows somebody and we’re all still struggling to even comprehend what’s happened,” Mayor Annette Rockliff told Sunrise on Friday.
“I guess you can almost imagine, we’re all really still in shock.”
Two of the five children who were killed the have been identified as Zane Gardam and Addison Stewart.
Three other year five or six students are in a critical condition while one has their condition labelled as serious.
“It’s been a dreadful time for so may of us, but for some, so much unbelievably more than others,” Ms Rockliff added.
“We had more than 90 ambulance officers on site yesterday, plus fire and ambulance, and all of those people are part of our community as well.”
“There are so many stories and it’s going to be a long and difficult process and I just urge everyone to do the best they can to take care of each other.”
An investigation into the incident has been launched, while students, parents, teachers and first responders have all been offered counselling
Multiple GoFundMe fundraisers have been launched to support the victims and their families.