New York woman killed in 140 feet plunge after railing gives way on apartment balcony

She is thought to have fallen after sitting or leaning on a railing while talking to her date at her New York City apartment

A 35-year-old media executive on a first date has fallen to her death after the railing on her 17th-floor New York apartment balcony gave way.

Jennifer Rosoff, who worked at The New Yorker, Lucky Magazine and Cosmopolitan before recently joining a new company called TripleLift, fell from the building after going outside for a cigarette just before 1am on Thursday.

She is thought to have fallen after sitting or leaning on a railing  while talking to her date at her New York City apartment, police said.

According to some reports her date warned her against leaning on the railing but Ms Rosoff fell just moments later.

She fell 140 feet to the scaffolding at the base of the building, on 400 East 57th Street - she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The medical examiner will determine a cause of death.

Police have said there was no appearance of foul play. Police spoke to Ms Rosoff's date and cleared him of any possible wrongdoing.

The grey brick high-rise building in Manhattan's Upper East Side was built before the Second World War.

Only the higher-floor corner apartments have balconies, and the city's buildings department issued a partial vacate order for them.

A photo of the corner balcony of the apartment where Ms Rosoff lived showed the top two metal railings bent down in a V-shape.

Buildings officials took part of the broken railing to examine how it could have given way and plan to determine whether the other balconies are structurally sound.

Additional reporting by Associated Press.