WATCH: Falling Christmas tree kills 63-year-old woman, injures 2 in Belgian city of Oudenaarde
Incidents of Christmas tree falling are taking place raising concerns for people's safety
December 23, 2023
Authorities in the Belgian city of Oudenaarde stated on Friday that a huge Christmas tree that toppled over during bad weather had killed a woman and injured two others.
A well-lit 66-foot Christmas tree progressively leaned over and eventually collapsed next to a Christmas market on Thursday while a merry-go-round was operating in the historical town square, according to security camera footage that appeared in Belgian news outlets.
The victim, according to a spokesman for the provincial prosecutor of Oost-Vlaanderen, was a 63-year-old Oudenaarde resident.
In the incident, two women from the same town sustained minor injuries.
“The investigation will focus on whether the tree had been properly secured and will also look at the impact of the weather,” he said.
On Thursday, Storm Pia caused traffic disruptions in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. It also made landfall in western Belgium, where the weather service issued a yellow code warning for coastal areas.
The storm also caused a death in the Netherlands where a woman died of her injuries on Friday after she was hit by a falling tree on Thursday, her employer’s healthcare organisation ZoZijn said.
