Deck collapses at North Carolina beach house during family photo shoot, injuring 24

(Image credit: Facebook.com/TheJewelOfTheSOBX)

published 6 July 2015

At least 24 members of a family were injured in North Carolina Saturday when the deck they were standing on collapsed.

The group — with members ranging in age from 5 to 94 — gathered on the 24-by-12-foot deck of their beach house rental to take a family photo, authorities said. Five people are still hospitalized, two in critical condition. In a statement, Emerald Isle town manager Frank A. Rush Jr. said preliminary findings suggest the collapse was due to deteriorated nails on the 29-year-old house. "Although Emerald Isle is a busy and popular tourism destination, it prides itself on its 'family beach image' and 'small-town atmosphere,' and an incident of this nature affects our entire community deeply," he said.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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