Thirteen people have reportedly been killed and 49 others injured after a 200-year-old oak tree fell on them during a religious festival on the Portuguese Island of Madeira. During a press conference it was confirmed by the Chief Surgeon at the hospital in the city that a dozen people, four of them children, were seriously injured.
Tragedy struck at midday yesterday, local time, when the massive tree toppled into a crowd gathered near Funchal for the Lady of the Mount festival in honour of Madeira’s patron saint, Mary. According to a eyewitness account: “We heard a cracking sound and then the tree fell where people were lighting candles.
People sitting on the benches near the fountain were also hit. There was a big panic — it happened in the middle of mass, around a half-hour before the start of the procession. There were a lot of people there.” The fountain is surrounded by several tall trees aged a hundred years or more. Authorities have opened an investigation into what happened.
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