Tauranga City Council have released a further statement on Sunday afternoon following an incident with a bouncy castle at the Matua New Year's Eve community celebration on Saturday.

"Firstly, our thoughts are with the five people that were unfortunately injured at the New Year's Eve community celebration event at Fergusson Park in Matua last night, of which we understand two were taken to hospital for assessment," says a council spokesperson.

"We are currently taking written statements from those involved and we're working with the bouncy castle operator, ROCKUP (North) Ltd, to ascertain exactly what took place."

A screenshot from the video shows people and staff starting to run to stop the bouncy castle rolling and to help victims.

On Saturday Police reported that one person was suffering injuries after a bouncy castle blew over at the New Year's Eve celebration in Matua's Fergusson Park.

Council staff said on Saturday that one person had been taken to hospital and four people were treated by medical staff on site.

"Police received a report of a bouncy castle blowing away at Fergusson Park at 7.42pm," says a police spokesperson.

"One person appears to have sustained injuries."

The bouncy castle was deflated and weighted down during the rest of the evening as the New Year's Eve celebration at Fergusson Park, Matua continued. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

A Tauranga City Council spokesperson said on Saturday that as a precaution, all inflatable devices were closed at all the community events "as soon as we were notified of the incident".

"Worksafe NZ has been notified and we are also undertaking our own investigation."

Worksafe NZ requirements

Worksafe NZ have specific requirements for the operation of bouncy castles.

Operators of land-borne inflatable amusement devices - LBI - offering rides to the public whether free of charge or for payment of a fee must meet the conditions set out in Sections 30 and 36 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.

Event Organisers have responsibility for ensuring that all activities are compliant under the relevant sections of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992. Only operators who can provide evidence to event organisers that land-borne inflatable amusement devices meet the requirements of Australian Standard 3533.4.1 are allowed to operate.

Witness account

Kiri Prentice who was at the park with family filmed a video a few minutes before the bouncy castle blew away.

"You can see in the flags and in my mother-in-law‘s hair, how strong the wind was," says Kiri.

The flags at 8.35pm at Fergusson Park, Matua. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

"The organisers and the operators of the kids' activities seemed very responsible, the equipment looked in very good condition, and I had been impressed at how they were monitoring the number of children going on the bouncy equipment at one time."

She says however, the wind increased during the event.

"It is obvious that wind monitoring and some rules around safe operation need to be developed for New Zealand circumstances."

The flags at 8.35pm at Fergusson Park, Matua. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

Kiri says the operators had taken down the adjacent bouncy castle a short time earlier, which is visible on the ground in her video. Only a few minutes later, the wind blew the second bouncy castle, turning it over as it pushed it along about 50 metres, resulting in five people being injured.

"Our neighbour talked to a man at the event who'd helped a blind woman and her guide dog avoid being it by the runaway castle," says Kiri. "The man had asked her if he could pat her guide dog but when he heard screaming and saw people running away he knew she couldn't run away quickly enough, so he asked her to lie down and lay down beside her and her dog and the bouncy castle blew over the top of them."

A screenshot from the video shows people and staff starting to run to stop the bouncy castle rolling and to help victims.

Kiri says the incident shook her family up.

"Everyone was very shaken by it and it was distressing seeing a young child and teenager lying still on the grass surrounded by family. A St John medical person was on site and was there immediately triaging."

She says following the incident, there was conversation amongst neighbours and family about the Australian incident where children had been killed following a gust of wind blowing a bouncy castle up into the air.

"It was on my mother-in-law's and other people's mind before it happened [on Saturday]. She asked what I thought about the bouncy castle and I thought she was meaning how well they were running it. I went over to have a look and there were only about three people in there at a time, with a long line of people queuing.It was very well run. But she was meaning what did I think about the wind.

"We know now it can happen. We do have so much wind in New Zealand and it happened so quickly. Someone did say that it was secured. Even if it was it's not enough in this climate these days to keep it down,' says Kiri.

"Council awaits further direction from Worksafe who we expect will be in touch again on 4 January," says a council spokesperson.

Coincidentally at around the same time period in Devonport Road, a line of building worksite barriers also blew over following a gust of wind.

Devonport Road at 8.15pm on Saturday. The orange barriers were upright earlier at 6pm. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.