Woman killed by falling Christmas tree on Belgian market square

BRUSSELS — 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 (Dec 21), 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.

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.

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.

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