The balcony of a Catholic Church collapsed on Wednesday in the Philippines, killing an elderly woman and injuring 53 people during a crowded mass, authorities said.
Millions of Filipinos flocked to churches on Ash Wednesday, an important date for the Christian community, which marks the start of Lent in this Catholic bastion of Asia.
About 400 people were attending mass for the holiday when the accident occurred at St. Peter the Apostle Church in the town of San Jose del Monte, near the capital Manila, said Gina Ayson, head of the church. civil protection of the city.
An 80-year-old woman was seriously injured in the chest and died shortly after in hospital, said Gina Ayson.
Part of the floor collapsed, throwing parishioners towards the ground floor during Ash Wednesday mass, the city's disaster office told AFP.
“Infested with termites”
“City building officials discovered that part of the collapsed structure was infested with termites
,” she told AFP.
“From the outside it looked good.
We didn't know it was eaten from the inside out
.
The other victims, most of them elderly, suffered bruises and other minor injuries, she added.
San Jose del Monte Mayor Arthur Robes ordered the damaged church closed while investigators inspected the building's structure, Gina Ayson said.
Photos posted by Arthur Robes on his Facebook page show part of the suspended balcony floor less than a meter from the ground floor, which is littered with plastic chairs and debris.