Nightclub balcony falls, killing two South Koreans and injuring aquatic athletes from the US, New Zealand, Netherlands, Italy and Brazil
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Two South Koreans have died and several others, including athletes attending the world aquatic championships, have been injured after a structure collapsed in a nightclub in the city of Gwangju early on Saturday, a fire department official has said.
The floor gave way at the club in the city of Gwangju at about 2 a.m. (1700 GMT Friday), pinning people underneath, a Gwangju Fire Department official said, adding that at least 10 people were injured.
Hundreds were inside the seven-storey nightclub at the time. The BBC reported the two people killed were aged 38 and 27, and were not competitors at the championships.
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Yonhap news agency reported that nine athletes competing in the 2019 Fina aquatic World Championships were injured, though none of them seriously. Their injuries ranged from bruising to lacerations on their hands or feet, the agency said.
“We were just dancing and then the next minute we dropped five to six metres and everyone started rushing out of the club after that,” said New Zealand men’s water polo team captain Matt Small.
“We … fell on top of the heads of other people that were beneath us,” he told New Zealand’s Radio Sport.
“Some of them were pretty dire cases,” he said of the injured.
