Fifty-four people were injured when a packed Catholic church balcony collapsed during an Ash Wednesday service in the Philippines on February 14, city disaster officials said, Ednews informs.
Millions of Filipinos flock to churches during Ash Wednesday, one of the religion's busiest days, which marks the beginning of Lent in Asia's Catholic outpost.
An 80-year-old woman was critically wounded, the city civil defense chief Gina Ayson told AFP, as another official said most of the other people were slightly injured.
About 400 people were attending mass when the accident occurred at the Saint Peter the Apostle church in the city of San Jose del Monte, near Manila, she said.
Part of the floor caved in, plunging parishioners to the ground floor during Ash Wednesday mass, a city disaster official, Ruben Fortun told AFP.
Fortun said the floor, made of wood "was likely overloaded."
Mayor Arthur Robes has ordered the damaged church shut as investigators inspected the building's structural safety, according to Ayson.
