The New Zealand women's water polo team have arrived home after being caught up in a deadly South Korean balcony collapse.
The team were part of a group of athletes celebrating the end of the World Championship at a nightclub when the mezzanine floor plummeted to the ground.
On Saturday, the women's water polo team were caught in the chaos at Coyote Ugly nightclub in downtown Gwangju.
The players were celebrating alongside the men's water polo team when an internal balcony suddenly collapsed, plummeting five or six metres onto the people dancing below.
Some of the partygoers fled in terror, but others desperately tried to hold the structure in place. Among those who stayed to help were some of the New Zealanders.
"Male players [jumped] to the attention of all the people that required it... they conducted themselves in a superb manner and they were able to assist the Korean authorities," Waterpolo NZ CEO Chris Wilson told Newshub.
Two South Koreans were killed and nine international athletes were among the injured, including two Kiwi water polo players.
Bernadette Doyle was injured in the fall, sustaining a suspected broken tailbone. Her teammate, Emily Nicholson, suffered cuts to her arm and leg.
Doyle's parents say an American man broke her fall.
"Because she fell on this guy, she had injuries... but cuts weren't one of them," Doyle's mother Helen told Newshub.
Although the team were back in Auckland on Sunday, Doyle will not arrive until Monday morning after being discharged from hospital.
"Last night, she said 'I'm still in shock'... and she's quite a laid-back kid who normally takes things in her stride," Helen Doyle says.
"But I think this has really knocked her."
The men's water polo players are also due back on Monday and both teams will be offered trauma counselling.
Newshub.
