Video from Clemson University showed a floor collapse under partygoers at an apartment complex, with reports that several students were critically injured as they fell into the basement below.
In the video, students are packed tightly on what appears to be a dance floor when the wooden floor gives way, sending a mass of people falling to the basement. Fox Carolina reported that the incident took place in the early morning hours on Sunday and that police and paramedics responded to the scene.
“Pickens County emergency officials say a floor in the clubhouse of the Woodlands of Clemson Apartments collapsed into the building’s basement,” the report noted.
Another video taken from on the dance floor shows the moment that the floor gives way, sending students to the basement below. Several others who were standing near the edges of the dance floor fell into the hole created when the floor collapsed.
The Woodlands of Clemson is a townhouse and condominium complex three miles from the Clemson University campus. The website for the apartment complex notes that it has a 6,000 square foot clubhouse, which is reportedly where the floor collapse took place.
Witnesses said there appeared to be many injuries from the floor collapse, some of them serious. There has not yet been word from Clemson University or local police, but some reports noted that at least nine people were critically injured in the accident.
BREAKING: #Clemson Fire says #Woodland Apt Clubhouse floor collapsed into basement. At least 9 critically injured. Stay with @foxcarolinanews pic.twitter.com/duUwAPsOoY
— Shale Remien (@ShaleRemien) October 21, 2018
There is a horrible situation in the Woodlands of Clemson right now. A large party in one of the buildings had the floor collapse trapping many people inside. There are a lot of injuries. Many of them very serious. @wyffnews4 @fitsnews
— WG Brackin (@teh_General) October 21, 2018
NEW: Video from inside #floor collapsing at #Woodland Apt in #Clemson . Credit: Jeremy Tester @foxcarolinanews pic.twitter.com/VH9Q62u8UU
— Shale Remien (@ShaleRemien) October 21, 2018
Some Clemson students took to social media in the wake of the accident to give updates from the scene of the collapse, alerting friends to check on anyone they knew at the party and telling others that they were safe.
The accident at Clemson University was reminiscent of another nearly identical college campus accident that took place last year. As the New York Daily News reported, students at the University of North Texas, who were celebrating the school’s 2017 homecoming at an apartment, were seriously injured when the floor under their feet gave way, sending them crashing into an apartment below.
Witnesses in the North Texas accident said it looked “like a bomb went off” and video showed students trying to climb back out of the rubble as burst water pipes sprayed the apartment. No one was seriously injured, though 50 people who lived in the apartment were displaced.
This weekend was also homecoming for Clemson University, and students were celebrating the football team’s 41-7 win over NC State on Saturday.
