The parents of a Surrey toddler who died after falling from a ninth-floor balcony in Whalley last week were just days away from being married.

The couple were to wed Saturday, two days after tragedy struck.

The girl, 2, fell off the balcony of the apartment late Thursday evening, while the couple and the girl's 15-year-old brother were inside. According to police, the girl was apparently playing in a bedroom attached to the balcony when she made her way outside through an open sliding door.

"There were a number of chairs on the balcony and we believe the child started climbing on items on the balcony," said Sgt. Drew Grainger of Surrey RCMP.

The child is believed to have gotten to a point where she was level with the rail and somehow went over. The toddler fell 21 meters onto an overhang that covered the front entrance to the apartment building. The child was taken to Royal Columbian Hospital in critical condition and was pronounced dead shortly afterward.

The death comes after two incidents last month in Surrey where toddlers fell out of windows left open, and follows an incident earlier last week in Mission where a child pushed out a window screen before falling 20 feet. Those children suffered different injuries, but none were fatal.

According to Grainger, Thursday's tragic incident is another reminder that parents need to be mindful of their children when opening windows and balconies to beat the summer heat. "Even with the screens up there's a perceived security but that doesn't exist because those screens are so easily popped out," he said.

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