Eleven hurt after feeding giraffe at Moscow zoo

Eleven people, including three children, were hurt as a result of the collapse of a wooden platform at the Moscow Zoo on Tuesday, officials said. One of the injured children suffered a spine fracture. 

The incident occurred on Tuesday afternoon. As the press service of the zoo said, there was a wooden platform build near an open-air cage with a giraffe. The platform was erected to give visitors an opportunity to feed the animal. The platform collapsed as it could not cope with the excessive weight of too many visitors on it.

"The platform could stand the weight of only three people, but there were about ten people on it at that moment," a zoo official said.

According to the official, the platform was closed on Tuesday because of the rainy weather. However, she added, several visitors removed the cloth that covered the entrance to the platform and climbed upstairs.

All the injured people will receive compensations, depending on the character of their injures. The total amount of compensation will make up 5 million rubles ($156,000).