05 September 2023 , 13:51
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Disaster struck a collegiate Labor Day party after a pier holding around 60 to 80 University of Wisconsin-Madison students suddenly collapsed, sending them plunging into a lake just off their college campus.
Terrifying video shows the moment the pier collapses and the scene erupting into chaos as students scramble to shore, search for lost items and check on their friends.
The collapse began near the center of the structure, then rippled out to the rest, eventually sending debris from the entire Memorial Union Terrace pier tumbling into the waters of Lake Mendota.
Around 25 people suffered minor injuries, and one was taken to the hospital for treatment for a non-life-threatening one, police said. Five others were treated by EMS, while the others injured reportedly didn't require treatment.
60 to 80 University of Wisconsin-Madison students stood on the pier moments before it collapsed into the lake (Instagram)Dozens of students lost their phones, wallets and keys, and Officer Jeff Kirchman of the UW-Madison Police Department told the Journal Sentinel that the law enforcement agency is actively dredging the bottom of the lake in search of those items. People looking to retrieve them can email [email protected], another police officer, with a description of their lost items.
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He also said the pier had been scheduled to be removed from the lake for the season on Tuesday. It is owned by the university, the campus of which borders part of the lake. Lifeguards had reportedly not been on duty at the time of the collapse, the Wisconsin Union told NBC15.
Freshman Gabrielle Willbrandt was on the pier when it went down and described her fear and shock to the outlet: "I turned to this one girl, and we were like, 'Oh my god. Did that really just happen?'" She reported minor injuries to her foot, which became trapped between fragments of debris, which sliced it open.
Around 25 students sustained minor injuries from the pier collapse (Instagram)"It was like all of a sudden immediate shock," she continued. "I fell, and then I felt my foot get crushed. I was trying to swim up, but it just felt like I couldn't."
Nicole Mitchell, a woman who was swimming nearby at the time of the collapse, told NBC15 that the incident was "really scary." She described how the pier "made a really loud noise," which triggered her fight or flight response.
"Me and my friend, who I was swimming, treading water with, we swam as fast as he could back to the dock," she said. "Everyone was screaming, looking for their things, making sure their friends were okay."
The authorities are investigating the cause of the collapse.