The gym located on Main Street near Sigsbee Street specializes in parkour, a physically demanding sport that requires athletes to navigate military-style obstacle courses. The victims were taken to various hospitals with moderate to minor injuries. Some of them suffered spinal injuries when a 10-by-30-foot wooden platform collapsed on them.
Intervention at the scene of accident
There were additional people with minor injuries who left on their own, rather than by ambulance. It seems the accident occurred when the stairwell collapsed after so many children were running up and down to get pizza, a witness said. There were about 50 kids there at the time. Many parents were likely using a Groupon that had been offered for the evening’s open gym. An hour after the accident, the street around the warehouse was lined with ambulances and firetrucks. Authorities said parents arrived at the scene to be reunited with their children. The cause of the stairwell collapse is under investigation. Parkour is a physical discipline in which participants attempt to get from one point to another, often involving jumping from one structure to another at obstacle course-like facilities. Developed in France, the discipline has gained popularity in the U.S.
