An 11-year-old girl was scalped at a Cinco de Mayo festival in Nebraska when her hair was caught in a carnival ride.

Elizabeth Gilreath was riding the spinning King's Crown ride at the Cinco de Mayo festival when witnesses say her bright red hair was caught in a mechanism on the ride and she began screaming from the pain, according to WOWT.

"There's nothing we could do and so I stood up and I [yelled], 'Stop the ride. Stop the freaking ride,'" Elizabeth's friend, Aushanay Allen, told WOWT.

Jolene Cisneros heard Aushanay's cries and quickly ran over to stop the ride.

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"It was still spinning," Cisneros said. "I had to stop it with my hands and turn it to the point where it [faced] the platform."

When the ride was stopped, Cisneros saw Elizabeth lying on the floor of the ride, bleeding, says Daily Mail. She eventually lost consciousness.

Elizabeth's family is grateful that Cisneros came to the rescue and called her a hero.

"I wanted her to live," Cisneros said. "Please don't let her pass. My prayers are with her. I want her to know that she's loved and cared about and it's going to be okay. She's still here with us and I'm grateful for that."

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The operator of the King's Crown ride is seen in surveillance footage running away from the ride, possibly to get help, though the girl's family wondered why he didn't act sooner.

"I don't understand how this man did not notice my daughter laying on the ground," Elizabeth's mother, Virginia Cooksey, told WOWT.

"I drove here to find my daughter's scalp had been totally removed," her father, Timothy Gilreath said. "I whispered to her, 'Baby, you're a Gilreath. You're tough.'"

Cooksey said she has been in the hospital with her daughter.

"I can't let my daughter see it," Cooksey said. "I have to stay strong."

"Surgical doctors played a big role and they saved my daughter's life and I cannot thank them enough."

Elizabeth's parents say the company that makes the ride has not reached out to them, though they say that safety is their number-one priority.

Sources: WOWT, Daily Mail / Photo credit: Facebook via Daily Mail