January 18, 2026, 11:35 amJanuary 18, 2026, 11:35 am
During a birthday party in Paris, the floor on the fifth floor of an apartment building collapsed – 20 guests were injured. There were around 50 people in the apartment when the floor collapsed under their feet around midnight and the guests fell one floor below, said a fire department spokesman. There was 1 seriously injured and 19 slightly injured.
A woman celebrated her 60th birthday and all the guests gathered around midnight, reported the broadcaster RTL. “It was a birthday party and then, as we were about to cut the birthday cake, the floor suddenly collapsed. We didn’t feel anything and were suddenly lying on the floor below,” one of the guests told the station.
Living room collapsed
He and his brother were at the end of the living room and first saw the guests in the middle of the room fall to the floor before the rest of the living room collapsed. “We inevitably found ourselves with people below us, above us and next to us.” There was no panic and no one moved to avoid falling another floor, the man said.
Authorities assured that the structure of the building was not damaged by the floor collapse. “The floor vibrated, probably because several people jumped at the same time, causing the floor to become unstable and collapse,” said the security architect of the prefecture of Paris, Antoine Cardon, to RTL. (hkl/sda/dpa)