Woman killed by falling Christmas tree in Belgian market

A Christmas tree toppled in a Belgian town, killing one person

A woman was killed and two people were injured when a large Christmas tree toppled during a storm in Belgium. Storm Pia, which disrupted traffic in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands on Thursday, also hit western Belgium, where the weather service issued a yellow code warning for the coastal areas.

The storm brought heavy rainfall and strong winds to part of the country, including the Belgian town of Oudenaarde where the tragic accident occurred.

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.

Security footage has captured the moment the 65-foot tree collapsed in the town’s historic market square. The Christmas market was cancelled in the aftermath of the incident.

Storm Pia has also caused flight delays and disruptions in parts of Europe. National railway operator Deutsche Bahn said that falling trees damaged overhead electric wires or blocked tracks largely in northern Germany, but also in the central state of Hesse. The situation was improving on Friday afternoon.

The storm also caused one death in the Netherlands, where a woman died of her injuries on Friday after she was hit by a falling tree the previous day, her employer, the healthcare organisation ZoZijn, said.

(With inputs from Reuters and Associated Press)