A woman was killed and two people were injured by a large Christmas tree that fell over in the Belgian city of Oudenaarde on Thursday evening, authorities said on Friday.
Security camera footage on Belgian news media showed a brightly lit 20-metre high Christmas tree slowly leaning over, then collapsing next to a Christmas market as a merry-go-round spinned on the historic town square.
Kerstboom valt omver in Oudenaarde. Er valt 1 dodelijk slachtoffer. Een klimaatdode. ?? Vroeger waaide het niet. pic.twitter.com/9RRdB1V97r
— Koen Godderis (@koengodderis) December 22, 2023
A spokesperson 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.
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.