Two people died and 16 were injured, including eight athletes taking part in swimming's world championship, after a balcony collapsed under the weight of party-goers at a South Korean nightclub, local police said Saturday.
The balcony at the Coyote Ugly club close to the athletes' village was a mangled wreck after it gave way and plummeted around five metres (16 feet) onto people below, sending terrified clubbers running to the exit screaming.
"An internal balcony collapsed at a club in Gwangju, killing two," said Song Gi-ju, a detective with the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency.
"We have a total of 16 injured and among them 10 are foreigners. Of the 10, eight are athletes participating in the championships." Song said the two dead were locals and not involved in the swimming championships, adding that police were investigating the possibility the balcony may have been illegally constructed.
The eight injured athletes include three Americans, two New Zealanders, one Dutch, one Brazilian and one Italian. Police said earlier that among the Americans was a male diver and a female polo player.
"A structure collapsed all of a sudden with people standing on it. Screams filled the area with broken parts flying all over, said a 32-year-old who was injured in the collapse, according to South Korea's Kukmin Ilbo.
"The site of the collapse was at the centre of the club where customers were most heavily located," said the party-goer, surnamed Kim.
- 'Awful tragedy' -
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