Police were called in the early hours of Wednesday morning after a balcony collapsed in an apartment building in Limassol.

The falling balcony was noticed by a security guard at the private hospital opposite the building.

Once it was determined that no one had been injured, maintenance teams from the Limassol municipality moved in to secure the rest of the building’s balcony, ensuring that it does not also collapse.

Underpinning work has also begun on balconies on the adjacent building.

In a statement released later on Wednesday, the Limassol municipality said there were “serious issues regarding the responsibilities of those involved in the maintenance and repair” of the building where the balcony collapsed.

They added that once informed, they took “all the necessary protective measures, both for residents [of the building] and passersby”.

They also said that the building had undergone maintenance as recently as 2019, carried out by its owners, but that “from today’s judgement, it seems that [the maintenance] was ineffective.”

“The maintenance that was done created a misleading impression regarding the dangers of the building and serious issues have been raised regarding the responsibilities of those involved in its maintenance and repair procedures,” they added.

In addition, they called for legislative action regarding building safety, and said they have had to spend more than €1 million on demolishing dangerous buildings in the last decade.

“Taking drastic decisions on the matter of dangerous buildings is necessary to avoid fatal incidents,” they added.

Previously, two balconies in Limassol had collapsed in the space of one day in October last year, slightly injuring a woman.

In July last year, 300 people were evacuated from a building in Paphos after a balcony collapsed. Five people were injured. The buildings in question had been built before 1994, when regulations were brought in to ensure safer building practices in Cyprus.