Photo/Illutration An apartment building in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward where the girl lived (Kai Nemoto)

HIROSHIMA—A 3-year-old girl died after falling from a balcony on a mid-level floor of a 53-story apartment building in what police believe was an accident, sources said.

The girl was found in a planted area below the balcony around 6 p.m. on April 16.

She was taken to a hospital with severe injuries to her chest but soon confirmed dead, the sources said.

Police found an object on her apartment balcony that could have been used as a step, sources said April 17.

Investigators suspect the girl took the object from an inside room, stood on it on the balcony and fell over the railing by mistake, the sources said.

She was alone inside the apartment at the time of the incident, police said.

The girl was about 1 meter tall, shorter than the 1.35-meter railing, police said.

Investigators believe the girl entered the balcony from a side door that was open when police checked the apartment, the sources said.

The window of a room that connects to the balcony was closed, the sources said.

Nothing was on the balcony other than the object that could be used as a step, the sources said.

People who live the apartment building said residents are prohibited from leaving anything on their balconies.

(This article was written by Kai Nemoto and Haruka Ono.)

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