A woman died in Belgium after a twenty-meter-tall pine tree fell on her at a Christmas market, the Belgian daily newspaper Dernieres Heures reported on Friday.
According to the report, a five-ton pine tree set at the Christmas market in the town of Oudenaarde, located 50 kilometers from Brussels, in Flanders, in the northern Flemish-speaking region of Belgium, toppled over as a result of force 6 wind gusts.
Three people were injured in the accident, and all three were taken to the hospital. One of them, a middle-aged woman, died of her injuries a few hours later.
No further information about the identity of the woman was given, and no official announcement has been made about the other people involved, they wrote.
The news portal quoted Mayor Marnic De Meulemeester, who said that the pine had already moved out of place once after it was set, and the technical service had to restore and strengthen it. The area of the fair was closed immediately, and it is still questionable whether it will reopen for the rest of the Christmas period.
An investigation was launched into the case, but the decorated tree was most likely not fixed properly, the mayor said, and then confirmed: the heavy rains of the past few days and the extremely strong gusts of wind could have repeatedly uprooted the pine tree.
The police launched an investigation due to negligence – the Belgian news portal concluded its report.
(MTI)
