Heart-stopping moment woman acrobat, 24, plunges 12ft to ground as act at Russian circus goes wrong

This is the heart-stopping moment a woman acrobat fell and suffered serious injuries during a trapeze act in front of children and their parents in a Russian circus.

Elizaveta Chumakova, 24, was hanging upside down by her feet some 12 ft above the ground when her grip failed as she reached up to grab a ring with her hand.

Fortunately, she had pivoted to fall feet first but crashed to the ground and lay motionless at the show in Novosibirsk, Russia's third largest city.

Circus staff rushed to her aid.

She was taken out of the circus ring to hospital on a stretcher.

There was no safety net to break her fall as she performed with a troupe of high-wire artists.

Elizaveta Chumakova, 24, was hanging upside down by her feet some 12 ft above the ground when her grip failed as she reached up to grab a ring with her hand

There was no safety net to break her fall as she performed with a troupe of high-wire artists

It is understood to have suffered fractures to her hip and foot but miraculously her injuries were not 'life-threatening'

She was conscious after the fall despite eyewitnesses saying she hit her head in the scary fall.

It is understood to have suffered fractures to her hip and foot but miraculously her injuries were not 'life-threatening'.

'She is in the First City Hospital,' said the Gia Eradze circus.

'Doctors are taking care of her.

'But so far no accurate diagnoses have been given.

'She is in touch with us.

'So far, all the circumstances are being clarified.'

She has worked in the circus for ten years and it is her first fall.

The circus issued a quote from her as she lay in hospital saying she had fallen when her 'favourite' left foot failed as she sought to grab the ring with her hand.

She told her fans: 'It wasn't too high… I am alive.'