A dozen people were injured after the second floor of an apartment building collapsed Saturday night in west central Pennsylvania, just over a mile from the University of Pennsylvania in Indiana, according to state police.
Injuries «ranged from minor to severe» after the collapse at the Elm by Traverse Commons apartment complex in White Township, Indiana County, about 66 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, according to Trooper First Class Clifford Greenfield, information officer. public service of the Pennsylvania State Police. . The complex advertises its apartments as off-campus housing for students from the nearby university, though it is not known at this time if any of those injured were students.
The twelve injured were treated at the scene and seven were transported to a local hospital for further treatment, according to Greenfield. Its terms were not immediately available Sunday afternoon.
Police believe at least one other injured person went to the hospital in a private car, Greenfield said.
When the first police officer arrived on the scene shortly before midnight, he was approached by several «frantic individuals» who told him «that the floor had collapsed into the apartment and multiple victims were identified,» according to Greenfield, adding that the person The caller initially reported someone lying in the road near Medlar Drive and Copper Beech Drive.
Greenfield said «several people» were inside the apartment at the time the flat collapsed, but police don’t know exactly how many.
Some escaped through a broken window on the first floor, causing «a lot of injuries,» Greenfield said. Members of the Indiana Fire Association searched the building when they arrived and found no one else trapped inside, Greenfield said.
The cause of the collapse remains under investigation, according to Myles Snyder, communications director for the Pennsylvania State Police.
The apartment management company secured the property after the collapse to prevent re-entry, Greenfield said. Police did not provide an exact address of where the collapse occurred.
Traverse Commons representatives did not return a call or email Sunday afternoon.
Greenfield said it’s unclear how many of those involved were college students or visiting guests during what has been dubbed «IUPatty weekend,» a delayed celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.
University spokeswoman Michelle Fryling said officials will offer help, including short-term housing, to the affected students and their families if needed, adding that officials don’t yet know how many people involved in the incident are students. of IUP.
Off-campus festivities have been taking place in Indiana for years and have sometimes caused trouble. In 2014, police responded to dozens of calls amid the county’s busy streets, including hundreds filling a street and engaging in fights that were filmed and then posted online. In 2017, two shootings were reported off campus.