A stairwell collapsed at a San Diego gym on Saturday night, injuring nearly two dozen kids and adults, a fire-rescue official said, with three or four suffering spinal injuries.
The incident happened at an indoor obstacle course at Vault PK gym that required the kids to launch themselves from structure to structure, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
"It could have been much worse," San Diego Fire-Rescue Deputy Chief Steve Wright told the Union-Tribune. He said 21 children and two adults, ages 72 and 46, were transported to hospitals with injuries ranging from moderate to minor.
Wright said three or four of the victims sustained spinal injuries when a 10-by-30-foot wooden platform came down on them.
The Union-Tribune emergency personnel transported patients to Rady Children's Hospital, Scripps Mercy, Sharp and University of California, San Diego Medical Center.
KSWB-TV said gym employee Patrick Minor posted a Snapchat video showing the aftermath of the collapse, including shattered glass and other materials on the ground.
The television station said firefighters were trying to determine if the platform itself was built to sustain people or if the number of people on the platform exceeded the limit.
Zachary Smith, who was on the platform, told the Union-Tribune that the staircase below collapsed, sending the platform down with it. Smith, who was at the facility with his son, told the newspaper that he fell onto a little girl but they were not seriously hurt.
Parent Joe Saari, whose children suffered minor scrapes, told the Los Angeles Times that there were 100 to 150 kids at the warehouse gym, which includes trampolines and bouncy houses.
Officials at Total Combat Paintball, which shares the facility with Vault PK, said in a statement that the evening appeared to go smoothly until the accident, the Times wrote.
"It was business as usual until we heard a loud boom come from the gym, at which point our staff and some customers ran over to the gym to help any way we could," Total Combat Paint said in the statement.
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