14 DAY TRIAL // A deck collapsing at a beach home in North Carolina has left 21 people injured after a family gathering.
The home was built ten years ago, as was the deck. Officials specify that it was also the last and single time that the deck was inspected.
The accident took place in the town of Ocean Isle Beach on Tuesday night, July 9. Police received a 911 call from a young girl letting them know that the entire family had fallen through the broken deck wood board. They had stepped onto the deck to take a family portrait.
"Our porch at our beach house just fell through. We were all taking a family picture and it just fell and a couple people are hurt. It just fell," the family member says on the 911 call.
Anthony Marzano, Brunswick County's emergency director, told KFVS12 that 21 people were transported to the hospital, one of whom was airlifted to New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington.
Grand Strand Regional Medical Center in Myrtle Beach also received some of the patients, as did Brunswick Novant Medical Center.
Amy Myers, a spokesperson for the institution, clarifies that five people had already been released as of Wednesday night. Two other people were still hospitalized with more serious injuries. A man broke his leg and it had to be put in a cast.
The Ocean Isle Beach Mayor stresses that decks on the oceanfront should be inspected on a regular basis, and not just when the home is built.
The law currently states that inspections will follow complaints, but will not be performed on a routine basis.
"I've actually had a long-standing opinion of this situation. [...] These oceanfront decks need to be held to a higher standard than North Carolina laws require," Debbie Smith says.