A woman had her arm amputated and a young child narrowly escape injury when a balcony collapsed at Manyana on Tuesday night.
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Five people were sitting on the balcony as dinner cooked in the nearby kitchen at the home on The Citadel in Manyana about 6pm.
A woman had reported hearing a crack about half an hour earlier from the rental home in which she had lived for about 15 years, but that was nothing unusual.
Several children were in the home as part of a family gathering, and a four-year-old had been on the balcony but ran off and into the home just before it collapsed with a loud noise.
A large lounge on the balcony cushioned the fall for some of the people, however a 79-year-old women’s arm was severed as she fell onto metal furniture below.
Two other women, aged 43 and 41, received serious injuries from the fall.
An ambulance helicopter landed at the nearby Manyana Soccer Field to take the three injured women to Sydney hospitals in serious conditions.
The two other people on the balcony, a 43-year-old man and a 42-year-old woman, received minor injuries and were treated by paramedics on the scene, before being taken to hospital.
A crime scene was established as police from Shoalhaven Local Area Command investigated the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Shoalhaven City Council officers were also at the home on Wednesday to report on its condition and decide whether the home was habitable.