British tourist barely able to walk after falling through gay club dancefloor
A man has been left barely able to walk after the dancefloor of a gay venue collapsed under his feet.
Gareth Humbles, 35, was among 41 injured when the floor gave way at the popular Butterfly gay bar in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Fire and rescue services were called to the club in Playa de las Americas, Tenerife, on the Spanish island’s south coast, at 2.30am Sunday.
A four metre long section of the ground floor caved in as people danced, with debris from the collapse filling the basement.
Gareth, who was on a night out with two other Brits, said: “People were absolutely frantic. It was pitch black and everyone was scrambling and fighting to get out.
“It was a pretty traumatic experience. My foot got caught under the debris, but I was one of the lucky ones. I managed to get myself out.”
There were no deaths as a result of the collapse.
Two people are believed to be in a serious condition at hospital, while numerous others have fractures to their legs and ankles.
Gareth says he has been left “black and blue” from the collapse and is struggling to walk.
“Everything happened so quickly, it almost doesn’t feel real,” he said.
“I was dancing one moment and then the floor gave way and we all fell at once.
“Imagine being in a lift and it breaking suddenly, that’s what it was like.
“My body is black and blue. I’ve got stitches all over and I can barely walk right now, but I’m going to be OK.”
YouTube footage from the disaster shows steel wires hanging from the ceiling, rubble piled up on the floor and supports propping up what was left of the venue.
A spokesperson said firefighters rescued “several people” who had become trapped at the scene.
One witness told the Bolorino website: “I was at the club called Papagaio which is next door to a gay club called Butterfly, and suddenly a friend of mine comes in screaming ‘Please help me, help me’ and it turns out the club floor had collapsed, broken in half, and people fell with it.
“We saw a whole bunch of people hurt and police everywhere and they closed the main street.
“It was a big disaster, there really were a lot of people hurt and there is no explanation as to why it happened.”
A firefighter spokesman said: “The service was required by a caller who, through the emergency fire brigade coordination centre, reported that part of the floor of a nightclub had collapsed.
“Six firefighting teams were deployed and, once in place, they confirmed that the floor of about four meters in length had collapsed.
“Firefighters were in charge of carrying out inspection and debris removal tasks to rule out whether people were trapped inside.”
