Sochi townspeople treat deaths of three persons under collapsed balcony as result of authorities' inaction

The five-storey house in Sochi, where three people died after a balcony collapsed, has long been in need of repairs, but tenants' appeals to authorities have yielded no results, locals assert.

On November 6, a 60-year-old man and a 37-year-old woman died when a balcony collapsed on the fourth level of the five-storey house in Sochi. Another victim, a 46-year-old man, died in hospital.

Investigators believe that the two men and the woman went out onto the balcony, after which it collapsed. According to the Sochi Mayoralty, the house was built in 1958 and was not in the state of emergency.

However, the house tenants disagree with the Mayoralty's statement; they assert that it is dangerous to live in it, the "Sochi1.Ru" reports.

"We have fungi on the walls, and rotten wooden windows," said Oksana Abramova, who has lived in the house since 1994.

Nadezhda, Oksana's neighbour, said that several years ago, tenants gathered signatures to an appeal to the authorities demanding repairs, but they only replaced rotten sewer pipes in the house.

According to Alyona, another tenant, the house was not listed as an emergency one, but required major overhaul, the "Kub Mash" Telegram channel reports. In particular, the roof needs replacement, she believes.