63-Year-Old Woman Killed After Christmas Tree Fell On Her

On Thursday evening in the Belgian city of Oudenaarde, a woman lost her life, and two individuals sustained injuries when a sizable Christmas tree toppled over, as confirmed by authorities on Friday.

Security camera footage on Belgian news media showed a brightly lit 20-metre (65.62 ft) high Christmas tree slowly leaning over, then collapsing next to a Christmas market as a merry-go-round spun on the historic town square.

A spokesman for the Oost-Vlaanderen province prosecutor said the victim was a 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.

Storm Pia, which has disrupted traffic in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands on Thursday, hit western Belgium on Thursday and the weather service had issued a yellow code warning for the coastal areas.