School mourns woman in balcony collapse death
Posted
The woman who died was one of 26 injured in the collapse. (ABC News: Giulio Saggin)
A Brisbane school is in mourning after the mother of one of its students died in a balcony collapse this morning.
The 48-year-old woman died after she was critically injured when the deck of a house collapsed at Ascot yesterday afternoon.
She was one of 26 people who were injured.
The women were mothers of Year 12 students at Anglican Church Grammar School, celebrating the end of the school year.
A Brisbane church minister says students are in shock after the death.
Reverend Guido Kettniss from the local Presbyterian church says he is close friends with the family, who are asking for privacy to deal with their grief.
"They're bearing up, I mean they're shocked also, but they're receiving support and counselling and they're doing quite well all told," he said.
Queensland police and Brisbane City Council staff are investigating what caused the balcony to collapse.
Meanwhile, Ron Tanton from Archicentre says with the recent storms in Brisbane residents need to check their buildings.
"Quite clearly if there is severe washouts or erosion around foundations and footings of timber or steel posts, that might catch people unawares, particularly as they're busy trying to get their lives together after devastating water inundation or something like that," he said.
Mr Tanton warns that this deck collapse will not be the last.
"Because people don't check their balconies, their decks and verandahs properly or at all," he said.
"They don't maintain them for year to year and they forget that these structures are out in the wet weather, then the hot weather and they're really struggling to survive against theses very harsh climatic conditions."
Earlier, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said her heart goes out to the family of the woman.
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