21 children injured after platform collapses at San Diego parkour gym for kids
21 children injured after platform collapses at San Diego parkour gym for kids
San Diego’s Vault PK is usually packed with bouncing and flipping children on Saturday evenings, when it hosts a “kids’ night out” for budding athletes ages 5 to 14.
This past weekend was especially packed, parents said, as people cashed in a Groupon that got three kids into the parkour facility’s open gym for just $30. The three-hour event is supervised by Vault PK staff members, so it doubles as a parents’ night out, too.
Some of the nearly 150 children present played on the obstacle course, styled similarly to those on “American Ninja Warrior,” but roughly a third had gathered on a 10-foot-by-30-foot wooden viewing platform, parent Cory Brizendine told San Diego ABC-affiliate KGTV. That’s where the pizza was being served.
“Once the majority of kids got up there, the whole platform collapsed,” he said.
The crumbling structure took a connected staircase with it, authorities and witnesses told reporters. Wood and little bodies tumbled to the ground — on top of children playing below — forming a heap of injured kids and gym equipment.