8 Cedarville students hurt in deck collapse

UPDATE @ 3 p.m. May 1

Eight Cedarville University students were injured when a second-floor deck collapsed Thursday night.

There were 16 students standing on the deck when it collapsed. All were members of a campus ultimate frisbee team and were having a get-together in celebration of their upcoming graduation on Saturday, according to a university official.

FIRST REPORT, April 30

Eight college students were taken to the hospital tonight after a deck collapsed.

Medics and Greene County deputies were called at 8:05 p.m. to a house in the 3000 block of Murdock Road after one person was unresponsive following a deck collapse.

“On our arrival we found about a 15- by 20-foot deck that had collapsed from the second floor of the house. It dropped about 12 or 13 feet,” said Cedarville Twp. Fire Chief Scott Baldwin.

Baldwin said about 15 to 20 Cedarville University students were on the deck when it collapsed during a get-together and cookout ahead of this weekend’s graduation.

Five students were taken to Greene Memorial Hospital and three students were taken to Soin Medical Center.

“None of them were life-threatening,” said Baldwin, who said injuries ranged from possible broken bones to a dislocated shoulder.

The house was in a residential neighborhood in a rural area off campus, and was a newer deck built within the last 10 years, the chief said.

“With that many people, they were pretty fortunate that none of them were hurt any worse than they were,” Baldwin said.