Woman killed and two injured as festive market Christmas tree falls over in Storm Pia
Tree top at festive market in Oudenaarde, Belgium toppled over in high winds
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A 63-year-old woman has died and two others have been injured after a huge Christmas tree fell over during Storm Pia.
Security camera footage shows a brightly-lit, 65ft high tree slowly leaning over before collapsing next to a Christmas market in the Belgian city of Oudenaarde. The tragedy unfolded in the historic town square around 7pm on Thursday night.
Storm Pia, which led to travel chaos in the UK as flights and trains were cancelled due to 80mph winds, hit western Belgium on Thursday.
The Christmas tree has now been removed from the festive market as local police open an investigation into the circumstances of the incident.
There had already been problems with the stability of the Christmas tree, which was crooked and had to be fixed by authorities, according to local Belgian media.
Oudenaarde Mayor Marnic De Meulemeester told VRT news: “We have decided to close the Christmas market and the winter village completely, out of respect for the family.
“The tree was firm, but unexpectedly very heavy rain and a local gust of wind with wind force 6 arose. As a result, the tree was overthrown near a Christmas market where a lot of people were present.”
An eyewitness told local media the city’s technical services were called ten minutes before the tree fell down, after it was seen swaying in the wind.
“The tree came down. We had seen that there were three people under the tree. Twenty people helped lift up the tree to save the people from under it,” the eyewitness added.
A spokesman for the Oost-Vlaanderen province prosecutor said the victim was 63-year old woman from Oudenaarde. Two women from the same town were lightly injured in the incident.
“The investigation will focus on whether the tree had been properly secured and will also look at the impact of the weather,” he said.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments