A college homecoming party took a frightening turn Friday night when a back deck collapsed at a Virginia home, leaving at least 28 people injured and sending emergency crews rushing to the neighborhood.
William & Mary confirmed students were among those injured at the off-campus residence in Williamsburg. All reported injuries were non-life-threatening, according to city officials.
Dispatchers received a report of a structure collapse around 10:07 p.m. on the 200 block of Matoaka Court. Responding police and firefighters found the home’s back deck had collapsed, the city said.
Emergency crews took 13 people to hospitals, while another 15 reportedly sought treatment on their own, according to the city’s Saturday morning update.
Neighbors told WAVY that a homecoming party was underway when the deck gave way. One described emergency vehicles stretching through the neighborhood.
“All the way down the street and wrapped around just ambulances and fire trucks,” the neighbor, who asked not to be named, told WAVY. “We saw a lot of hospital gurneys coming out of ambulances. At least nine ambulances kind of wrapped around the street.”
Joshua Wise, who lives next to the home, told the outlet some of his classmates were involved. He returned after emergency crews had finished responding but learned his housemate had been helping people get home.
“Word was traveling pretty fast,” Wise told WAVY.
“By the time I got back here, the emergency response was over, but I had a housemate who was helping people, trying to help out as much as possible, drive people home, get people where they needed to be.”
Wise credited neighbors with coming together after the frightening incident.
“We did everything we could to help each other out and I think that that’s beautiful,” he said.
In a Saturday message to the campus community, William & Mary’s senior vice president for student affairs and public safety, Ginger Ambler, said the university was still gathering information. Additional students may have sought care beyond those initially counted, she noted.
“We are grateful that none of the injuries were life-threatening,” Ambler wrote.
She said staff across the university’s health, academic and student support offices were working to assist affected students.
“We recognize that such an experience may affect our students deeply and in different ways,” Ambler wrote.
Wise also praised the emergency response.
“Thank goodness for the emergency responders,” he told WAVY. “They were great. The ambulances and everything got here pretty fast.”
Local police and firefighters responded, and city officials were working with area hospitals to confirm the total number of people treated.
The city’s Codes Compliance Division is evaluating and inspecting the site.
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