30 injured after apartment floor collapses during Clemson party

Thirty people were injured after a floor collapsed during a party at an apartment complex near Clemson University.

The incident occurred early Sunday morning in the clubhouse of The Woodlands of Clemson apartment complex. Police say the building's first floor collapsed into the basement while the party-goers were dancing.

"All of a sudden, I just heard somebody scream and they just slowly fell and the view of that was terrible and I tried grabbing people, whoever I could, but it was too late. It happened so fast, it was kind of too late to react," said Darius Smith.

"The floor fell through, literally," Jalen Green said. "I'm right in the middle of my friends, bodies everywhere."

The group was celebrating Clemson's homecoming win against N.C. State.

"You've got people that are trying to have a good time, trying to enjoy themselves...then the next thing they know the floor collapses," said Chief Jimmy Dixon with the Clemson Police Department. "It could have been a whole lot worse. There could have been entrapments."

Witnesses said people were jumping in time to a popular song when the floor caved in. Victim Leroy Pearson said he was jumping with his hands up one moment and falling the next. He said he blacked out and woke up to find other party goers covered in blood.

I wake up,because I blacked out, and I see girls everywhere with blood all over their face and...when I got to my senses, all I could think about was, 'Yeah, OK, let me start trying to help people get out, but then started seeing people with like broken ankles, legs, backs," he said. "It was terrible. It was crazy."

A video shared on the WYFF Facebook page showed chaos as the floor collapsed, and the NBC affiliate confirmed that 30 people were taken to three area hospitals.

According to Chief Dixon, none of the injuries appear life-threatening.

The property management of the clubhouse told CNN it was built in 2004, but did not say what the building's capacity was or if it was over capacity at the time of the collapse.