Wedding guests injured as balcony collapses

Seven people were injured, including one seriously, when a wooden balcony collapsed during a wedding party at a Marlborough Sounds holiday resort this afternoon.

Up to 40 adults and children were crowded on to the balcony at the Te Mahia Bay Resort in Kenepuru Sound, near Picton, when the structure gave way throwing screaming guests two metres to the ground.

A resort spokesman said that one guest was airlifted to Wellington Hospital with a suspected broken leg and six others sustained minor injuries.

"We are very fortunate that it wasn't much worse."

He said he did not know the cause of the collapse which was being investigated by police.

- NZPA