Woman dies after Christmas tree falls in Belgium

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From Reuters

A large Christmas tree fell in the Belgian city of Oudenaarde due to severe weather, killing one woman and injuring two others, authorities said Friday.

Security camera footage published in Belgian news media shows a brightly lit 66-foot-tall Christmas tree tilting slowly next to a Christmas market as a merry-go-round spins in the historic town square on Thursday. , and was shown falling down.

A spokesperson for the Oost-Vlaanderen state prosecutor said the victim was a 63-year-old woman from Oudenaarde.

Two women in the town suffered minor injuries in the incident.

“The investigation will focus on whether the tree was properly secured and will also look at the effects of weather,” he said.

Storm Pier, which disrupted traffic in Britain and the Netherlands on Thursday, also hit western Belgium, with the Bureau of Meteorology issuing a yellow code warning for coastal areas.

The storm also killed people in the Netherlands, where a woman was hit by a falling tree on Thursday and died from her injuries on Friday, her employer’s medical group Zogin said.