Before we jump to any conclusions (myself included):
IF the
point she was on failed, that's one thing. As we've all said before, rigging should be done only by those qualified (and that's real easy for us to say at this
point).
On the other
hand: IF she was on a Spanish Web, you've opened a whole 'nuther can of worms.IF she was
harnessed, she couldn't have been on a Web. Acrobatics, such as Spanish Web, silk/tissue acts,
etc...seem to function in a slightly parallel
universe. Fall protection is not used, generally, because the fall protection is more of a hazard than NOT using fall protection in these situations. Fall protection is, generally, not designed for this use and as such cannot function properly. Believe it or not (and I'm sort of loathe to mention this here), there are written, completely legal times to not use fall protection. But no way in h3ll am I gonna tell anyone here where/when that is. And it doesn't generally make it a good idea either. That's why you need to be trained in these things by legit sources.
In acrobatics, people fall. It's a fact of life, and a known risk going into it. Ask that performer at Zumanity who came down hard a few months ago. Ask the Wallendas who lost one of theirs in a tight rope walk.
{from www.wallendas.com}It was during a promotional
walk in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in March, 1978, that the patriarch of the Great Wallendas fell to his death at age 73. Not because of his age or capabilities, not because of the wind, but because of several misconnected guy ropes along the
wire. Karl once said, "Life is being on the
wire, everything else is just waiting." The Wallenda legacy lives on to the sixth and seventh generations through Karl's grandchildren and great-grandchildren
Until anything official comes out, we have to reserve judgement or jumping to conclusions. I'd be willing to bet a week's pay that it's not so cut and dry. But I've been wrong before.