Two men are dead and a third is in critical condition after falling three storeys from a balcony in Lachine.
The three men were on the balcony of a Victoria St. apartment around 2 a.m. early Sunday morning when the railing gave way. The railing of the balcony became completely detached and was hanging from one side of the building.
The men fell about 15 metres onto the driveway of the building.
By the time paramedics arrived, a 32-year-old man had already died. The two other men were transported to hospital where the 23-year-old old later died. A 26-year-old man remains in critical condition.
Police have set up a perimeter and are speaking to witnesses.
“The crime scene technicians did come on scene and they're looking at all possible theories right now,” said Montreal police spokesperson Louis Heroux. “Obviously one theory they're looking at is the railing just gave way, but witnesses are going to be met with – some that were on the scene and in the apartment. The owner of the building will be met by the investigators to really try to determine what happened today.”
The owner of the building is professional boxer Lucian Bute, who was not at the scene Sunday morning, but police and city building inspectors will be in contact with him.
The cause of the collapse is yet to be determined, and is being investigated. Inspectors will investigate the structure of the balcony.
“What I've seen is some of the balconies were redone recently but some others are pretty old. We won't take any chances and we'll get some reports and analysis to make some investigation to all of them starting tomorrow morning,” said Lachine Borough Mayor Claude Dauphin, adding that the borough will want to see what it can do to prevent further tragedies.
Police say it could take weeks to determine the cause of the collapse.
