A 19-year-old student was killed and two other students were injured on Monday when a free-standing brick column attached to some hammocks collapsed on the campus of a college in Oregon, officials said.
Officials said the students were sitting on some hammocks on the campus of Lewis & Clark College in Portland when a column that was holding them up collapsed inward toward them, according to the Portland Fire & Rescue Bureau.
Two 18-year-old female students also suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
"We are devastated to report that earlier this evening, a tragic accident occurred on the undergraduate campus in which one of our students was killed and two others were injured, the school said in a statement Monday. "We are working to contact the students’ families and will report more information as it becomes available. We are deeply saddened by the shocking loss of a member of our community."
Witnesses said at least six people were in pairs in three hammocks attached to masonry columns when one of the columns fell, the Portland Fire & Rescue Bureau said.
The column was about nine to 10 feet tall, and 20-by-20 inches, a Portland Fire spokesperson told The Oregonian.
The bureau received an emergency call at 8:15 p.m. local time on Monday, which was the first day of the new semester at the college.
Fire officials said that no one was trapped under the column, but that people were performing CPR on one person who was seriously injured.
Both women were taken to a local hospital, one with an arm injury and the other with abdominal injuries, officials said.