At least 24 people, ranging in age from 5 to 94, were injured in North Carolina on Saturday after a deck collapsed under a family posing for a group photo, dropping them 10 feet to the ground, WNCT reports.

“The family was on the deck preparing to take a family photo when the event occurred,” Emerald Isle Police said in a statement. “Due to the number of casualties involved, neighboring agencies were called in to assist in transporting and dealing with the victims.”

According to officials, preliminary findings indicate that corroded nails were responsible for the collapse. From the Associated Press:

Nails deteriorated by years of exposure to the sand, salt and moisture from the ocean gave way, causing a deck collapse that hurt 24 people as they posed for a picture at a North Carolina beachfront home, authorities said.

The deck was likely up to code when the house was built in 1986, but the nearly 30-year-old nails simply fell apart under the weight of the people standing on small part of the deck Saturday night, Emerald Isle Town Manager Frank Rush said in a news release Sunday.

As of Sunday, five of the victims reportedly remain hospitalized with two in critical condition.

“It was tragic. It was truly, truly, truly sad to watch,” one witness told NBC News, describing the scene as “a whole bunch of people just on the ground laying on top of the planks from the deck.”

[Image via WRAL]