A woman enjoying a romantic dinner at a Montreal hotel was killed Thursday when a piece of concrete fell off an upper floor of the building that was last inspected in 2000.

Lea Guilbeault and her husband Hani Beitinjaneh were eating dinner Thursday night at the Mikasa Sushi Bar on Peel St. in the downtown core, when the decorative slab fell from the Mariott Residence Inn.

The slab crashed through the atrium window of the restaurant, located on the ground floor of the hotel, from 17 floors above.

Guilbeault, 33, was pronounced dead at the scene by police and paramedics.

Montreal Const. Olivier Lapointe said Beitinjaneh, also 33, lost some fingers on his right hand and was treated for severe shock.

The slab of decorative concrete was between 700 and 800 pounds, said CTV Montreal's Annie DeMelt.

"The question is what caused this to come down," DeMelt said. "Was it corrosion? That's what we have been hearing from some of the engineers we've been speaking to this morning. Another is why was this was not noticed, and could it have been prevented?"

The agency responsible for monitoring structures in Quebec said the 42-year-old building was last inspected in 2000.

According to Regie du batiment spokeswoman Christin Grant, no complaints had been filed about the building or its façade.

"We don't look at number of years anymore, we look at the risks certain types of buildings may represent," Grant told The Canadian Press.

Witnesses at the scene said Beitinjaneh was in a state of shock after his wife, who was sitting just a few feet away, was killed.

"I saw him getting in the ambulance and he was totally devastated. He was yelling at everybody and crying," witness Justine Lafond told CTV Montreal.

"It hit the woman right on the head, and her head was smashed," an emotional witness, Kali Subramanian, told CTV Montreal.

"It's sad...it's a sad way to die. Somebody eating at a restaurant, and it happens like that."

It's not clear what caused the slab, about one metre by one-and-a-half metres, to come off the side of the building, Lapointe said.

"For us at this moment, it looks accidental. There was no one who played with the block of concrete trying to make it fall," Lapointe added.

Lapointe said a section of Peel Street was expected to remain closed for several hours as a precaution while the fire department inspected the building.

With files from Canadian Press