The wooden ramp and deck collapsed at noon Tuesday as campers were lining up to enter the dining hall at Camp Chula Vista. Twenty-three teens were taken by ambulances to area hospitals, said Capt. David Garrett of the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department.
The injuries ranged from head and neck injuries to broken bones, cuts and scrapes, Garrett said.
``I heard two cracks, and it just collapsed with us,'' 17-year-old camper Cathy Alexander, of Carbon Hill, told The Birmingham News. ``The next thing I know, we're on the ground. It didn't seem real. It's like it was a dream, like I was fixing to wake up.''
She said several campers had seizures.
Alexander was treated at St. Clair Regional Hospital for a sprained left ankle, pulled muscles in her chest and a cut on her head that required five stitches.
The camp _ a weeklong overnight session for 105 ninth- through 12th-graders from across Alabama _ is run by the Church of God.
Garrett said the Sheriff's Department is investigating the incident and has not determined what caused the collapse.
``It appears there was too much weight on the structure,'' he said.
The camp will stay open for the rest of the week for those who want to stay, a camp official said.
