A 19-year-old male student died and two 18-year-old women were injured Monday night when a column collapsed on their hammocks at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.
There were six people in three hammocks supported by columns at the center of the college’s campus near a reflecting pool. Sometime after 8 p.m., one of the masonry columns collapsed inward on the group.
“Just after 8:15 pm crews were called to the campus of Lewis & Clark College for reports of multiple people injured due to a brick column that collapsed. It was confirmed that there was nobody pinned beneath the column but there were multiple injuries,” the Portland Fire and Rescue Bureau said in a statement.
Monday was the first day of classes on the Lewis & Clark campus.
“It wouldn’t matter what day it was, this was tragic. These kids are trying to adjust to college life, some of them for the first time, and it can be really challenging for them when they have this trauma,” Terry Foster, spokesperson for the fire department, said in a statement to KGW-TV, a Portland NBC affiliate.
While the authorities were able to confirm the man who died was a student, they were not able to confirm whether or not the two injured women were also students at the school.
In a statement, Lewis & Clark College said that “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.”
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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