Authorities in northern New Jersey said 15 people were hospitalized Sunday afternoon when the roof of a church collapsed during an Easter service.
Union County spokesman Sebastian Delia told NJ.com that the collapse occurred just before 2 p.m. at the Korean Union United Methodist Church in Rahway. The Associated Press reported that congregants heard a cracking sound before debris began falling from above them.
NJ.com reported that the injured were taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Rahway for treatment. Delia said one woman was transported in critical condition, but the others were less seriously injured.
A witness said one woman received a laceration on her head when a chunk of the ceiling struck her. The witness told NJ.com that people who couldn't get out of the church were told to sit at the side of the room they were in. She said the badly injured woman did not take that advice.
The service was being held for a separate Pentecostal congregation that rents out space at the church. The cause of the collapse is under investigation.
"You could definitely say that God was watching over the members of the congregation," Rahway Mayor Samson Steinman said. "It could have been a lot worse."
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