The floor of a condominium clubhouse near Clemson University collapsed during a large private party early Sunday, hurtling dozens of people into the basement, authorities said.
About 30 people were taken to local hospitals after the center of the floor caved in at the clubhouse near the South Carolina university. Clemson City Police said nobody was trapped and none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.
Video posted on social media shows a large part of the first floor falling as people danced, causing many of them to tumble to the floor below.
New video shows the chaotic situation in #Clemson after a floor collapse injured 30. (Courtesy: Ricardo Arroyo) #scnews #chsnews https://t.co/ZruPs8GUfZ pic.twitter.com/71yazWZ2QM
— ABC News 4 (@ABCNews4) October 21, 2018
Clemson sophomore Larissa Stone told the Independent Mail of Anderson that the room was “packed” and a popular song was playing when the floor collapsed.
“So everyone was jumping. The beat was about to drop and literally the whole floor collapsed,” she said. “It happened so quickly. I stood up, and everyone was trying to climb out. People are under other people. People are hurt. People are bleeding. I had blood on my sneakers. It was really bad.”
Partygoers screamed, and those who didn’t fall stood around the remaining edges of the floor and stared below in shock. Some people standing on the sidelines pulled out their cellphones to record the floor collapse.
A witness who attended the party said people were jumping and he heard a sudden “boom.”
“All you seen was falling, everybody’s hands up in the air,” Franzie Pendergrass told WYFF News 4.
Leroy Pearson said he went to try to help injured people and saw what he thought looked like broken ankles and legs.
“It was crazy,” Pearson said.
Police said the clubhouse at The Woodlands, about three miles from Clemson, had been leased for a private party.
Property manager Tal Slann told The Associated Press that the condominium complex was built in 2004-2005. He said he could not comment on whether there was a limit on the number of people who were supposed to use the clubhouse at one time.
“I can tell you there was a party. I can tell you there was a floor collapse. There were injuries. They were not life-threatening. Nobody was trapped,” he said.
Police said they were called about 12:30 a.m. Sunday. Ambulances rushed to the scene.
Slann sent residents of The Woodlands an email saying the floor in front of the clubhouse fireplace had collapsed during a party.
“The Clubhouse and pool area is OFF LIMITS to all,” said a copy of the email texted to the AP. “The clubhouse will be inspected by structural engineers as soon as possible. From there, the homeowner’s association will determine how to rebuild the clubhouse to make it safe for all residents. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who were injured and we apologize for any inconvenience.”
(AP)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
4 Responses
I would like to know why are people filming this? Please start helping ASAP.
You can call the police. Some people I noticed where climbing the walls- Go help and pull them up.
Are you filming this to make $
Go and help.
This gathering of sages and G-d fearing folk were obviously celebrating some siyum masechta or some other important occasion. It goes without saying that there wasn’t cholila any alcohol or drugs at this kiddush Hashem gathering.
I am NOT gloating over their misfortune, and am sorry this happened. But, I’m sorrier that YWN feels this story is so important to inform the “yeshiva world” — without even a word about how much Hashem probably is pleased with such gatherings that honor His Name. That sometimes we get to see how Hashem punishes evil doers for their actions. If there would be something, anything of a sentence or 2 of a “mussar haskel” to this story — I could see that publishing this item might be justified. But, just to inform us how a bunch of rowdy kids — some of whom likely high on …? — irresponsibly endangered their own and others lives. Of course, I am not happy that there were injuries. But, I’m more unhappy with the total absence of any Yiddishe hashkafic comments to spotlight this story. If YWN readers need to know about this — why not add some spiritual content to the news? The “extermist” demos in EY are NEVER reported on YWN so dryly, objectively, so matter of factly. Frum extremists? They deserve whatever the cops inflict on them, because THEY are extremists. Stoned party goers in South Carolina? Well, they’re probably goyim anyway — so Hashem doesn’t even expect anything from them. No mussar haskel to to learned from them.
Hey American Yerushalmi-
I hear your frustration but why do you keep coming to a news outlet to learn mussar? A newspaper isn’t a place to learn Torah, that’s for seforim and the beis medrash. This is a place to see what is happening in the world. If you are so bothered that there isn’t any mussar haskel in this news outlet then why are you still reading it?
(And as an unrelated side point, Hashem does expect things from Goyim.)
Discoverer: that’s exactly my point. So why read YWN if you can read more comprehensive news coverage on the NY Times site or any other non-Jewish website. I thought the whole point of a frum website is to provide a frum perspective on what’s going on in the world. You realize that you don’t get “all the news” on YWN. Baruch Hashem — there are still some kinds of news items that are not mentioned here. And yet you still keep coming back for more! We should be striving to inject ruchniyus into the mundane as much as possible. My example of the coverage of the frum extremist demos in EY that are always reported in an impassioned and subjective manner — makes my point. Those news items are never just cut and dry objective reporting. There is a point of view that the owners/operators of Yeshiva World feel they need to insert into these news items. So, I happen to feel that the same ought to be with other items as well.
BTW, you missed my sarcasm — of course Hashem expects things from the goyim. That’s what should have been mentioned!