At least nine Texas A&M University students died yesterday morning when they were trapped under logs as they prepared a bonfire to kick off their Nov. 26 home football game against the University of Texas.
Mark Evans, a representative from Texas A&M's Office of University Relations, said around 2:30 a.m. the 40 foot pile of logs to be used in the bonfire collapsed with about 50 students on top of it and "caught several students underneath it."
He said 28 students were injured and community members still were looking for survivors.
"Our main concern is to get everybody out of there," Evans said. "We are still sifting through the logs."
The Bryan-College Station Eagle, a local newspaper from Texas A&M's town of College Station, reported yesterday afternoon A&M administrators did not yet know the cause of the accident.
The Eagle reported the logs "fell within a span of five to seven seconds."
A&M junior Andrea Bacon said last night that workers trying to help find survivors had been working for 15 hours straight.
"They were lighting it up when it got dark, because supposedly there are still two to five people still" trapped under logs, she said.
Students must go through specialized training to cut the logs, Evans said.
The bonfire has been limited in size to 55 feet tall and 45 feet wide since the 1970s and has been an annual tradition since 1909, he said.
He added the bonfire is set ablaze the night before the football game if it is at home and lit two nights before it is at UT.
Student leaders build the bonfire, Evans said.
"There is a hierarchy of student leaders, with a staff advisor," he said.
About 5,000 people work on the bonfire each year.
Evans said this training includes apprenticeships and safety instruction.
Bacon said the university community was coming together to cope with the accident.
"There are blood drives on campus, restaurants donating food, hotels giving free rooms for the families," she said.
"I've seen candle services all day - students praying for each other, passing out ribbons," she added.
Evans said that Texas A&M's Student Counseling Services are "active" and have a designated room on campus for the families of the victims.
A memorial service for the victims was held at Reed Arena last night and several area churches held prayer services throughout the day, Evans said.
After the accident, the bonfire was canceled for this year.
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