Melbourne street performer who caught fire during busking audition recovering
The female street performer whose dress caught fire during an audition for a busker's license in Melbourne is recovering in hospital.
Just after midday on Monday, onlookers saw a young woman twirling candles and thought it was all part of the act when one caught her dress and engulfed her in flames.
Southbank worker Jack Jopling, 23, was sitting down having lunch with friends when ear-piercing screams came from a woman after the her stunt went horribly wrong.
"We saw the lady doing tricks with fire," he told AAP.
"She was effectively balancing candles on her body and I think one fell over and caught on her clothing."
The performer suddenly began screaming and rolling on the ground with her back and legs on fire.
"It was looking like she was on fire and we were waiting to see what the next part of the trick was," Mr Jopling said.
The Southbank crowd realised she was in trouble and rushed from everywhere using their jackets, buckets of water and even a coke to douse the flames on her legs and back before emergency crews arrived.
They have been credited for saving her life.
"It actually looked like a reasonable amount (of flames)," Jopling said.
"Most people thought it was just part of the trick, they couldn't quite believe it."
The woman, believed to be in her 20s, was taken to the Alfred Hospital with serious burns to her back and leg and is now in a stable condition.
The street performer was in the middle of an assessment for a busker’s licence and it is believed she had been performing for 11 years.
