Dozens of people were sent plunging into Lake Mendota after a pier near the University of Wisconsin-Madison Memorial Union Terrance collapsed on Monday (September 4) afternoon as college students celebrated Labor Day.
There were between 60 and 80 people on the temporary pier when it suddenly gave way, sending everybody into the water.
"It was really scary. It made a really loud noise at first, and then it was basically a fight-or-flight response. Me and my friend, who I was swimming, treading water with, we swam as fast as he could back to the dock. Everyone was screaming, looking for their things, making sure their friends were okay," UW-Madison student Nicole Mitchell told WMTV.
Officials said that about two people suffered minor injuries in the collapse. Five people were treated at the scene, while one person was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
"The fire department came and was like, 'You all have to get off the dock, you can't walk back, it might collapse.' So then we were swimming with our phones in the air, like we didn't want to get them wet," Mitchell said. "Definitely scary, I was shaking for a while, but (I'm) feeling better now," Mitchell told WISC.
Videos on social media captured the collapse and the aftermath as students rushed to get back to the shore.