Recommended occupancy for floor was for six people.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: At least 36 people were rushed to the hospital when the floor of a second-level apartment, located above the detached garage of a Houston-area home in Texas, gave away in the middle of a puja.
Local reports say the number of hospitalized individuals may be as high as 50, with local KHOU news reporting that around 125 guests in and around the apartment and garage at the time of the accident. Injuries were mostly minor, with at least three people suffering from injuries that were “urgent but not critical.” The youngest person injured was an eight year-old.
People had gathered at the apartment, located in Katy, for a religious function.. Guests were in both the apartment and the house during the ceremony. At some point during the puja, the ground within the apartment began to give away, and soon several people found themselves buried under rubble as they fell from the second floor onto the pavement of the garage beneath them.
Firefighters and first responders, who set up a makeshift triage center outside the home, estimated that about 40 people were in the apartment at the time of the collapse – the recommended occupancy for it is no more than six. An inspection of the garage after the accident showed that there was some wear on the side of the building, indicating structural weakness that likely led to the calamitous event.
The neighborhood effectively shut down as emergency crews populated the streets, treating the injured and taking those that needed more serious attention to the local hospital. There have been no reports of any criminal charges being pressed, although those who were injured may end up pursuing their own civil charges.