2003 Chicago balcony collapse

On June 29, 2003, the deadliest porch collapse in United States history occurred in Chicago. An overloaded balcony collapsed during a party in an apartment building, killing thirteen people and seriously injuring fifty-seven others. The ensuing investigation was highly critical of the way the balcony was built, finding a large number of errors in its construction which ultimately resulted in the collapse. However, the building's owner continues to blame overcrowding on the balcony for its complete structural failure, although he has taken steps to strengthen the balconies at his properties to prevent a recurrence of the disaster. The accident resulted in sweeping inspections of similar structures across Chicago, with 1,260 cases being actioned by the city authorities.

The porch was attached to the rear of an apartment building located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of the city's North Side. The second and third floors were being used as a party venue at the time of the collapse. Most of the party-goers were in their early 20s, and knew each other from their days at New Trier High School and Lake Forest High School of Chicago's North Shore suburbs. One witness says she warned other people in the building that the balconies were unsafe, but another later said that "it looked like it was newly built. It looked sturdy."

About fifty people were on the top wooden balcony at the time of the collapse. According to one witness, the sound of splintering wood was heard immediately before the collapse, which occurred shortly after midnight local time. The collapse started on the third floor, pulling down other balconies below. The first, second, and third floor balconies all collapsed into the basement below, carrying a total of approximately one hundred people among them. Several people were also trapped in a basement stairwell. Survivors helped to pull victims out from under the debris of the balconies, and rescue workers had to use chainsaws to free others. One of the survivors was a nurse, and had started a rescue effort before the emergency services arrived. The Chicago Fire Department supplied the main rescue effort. Eleven people were killed in the collapse, with two more subsequently dying while hospitalized; fifty-seven people were injured.

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Wikipedia