3 killed including baby as high winds topple tree during Easter egg hunt in Germany

Police officers next to a fallen tree in woods south-east of Flensburg in Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein region on Sunday.

Three people died when a tree fell during strong winds, police said.

Photo: dpa Three people, including a 10-month-old girl, were killed on Sunday when high winds toppled a tree in northern Germany during an Easter egg hunt, police said.

Around 50 people from a nearby residential facility for new mothers, pregnant women and children were attending the event in woods near the town of Satrupholm at around 11am when a 30-metre (100ft) tree fell on the group, police said in a statement.

Four people were pinned under the tree.

A 21-year-old woman and a 16-year-old girl were treated by first responders but died at the scene, while the woman’s 10-month-old daughter died later in hospital.

An 18-year-old woman suffered serious injuries and was brought to the hospital by helicopter.

The facility is part of the state-funded child welfare system and supports pregnant women and new mothers who need help, according to its website.

Grief counsellors were sent to the scene.

Pictures from the scene published by the Bild news site showed several Easter eggs scattered on the ground and two of the victims covered in white sheets.

The area had been under a high winds warning from the German weather service.

Government officials from the Schleswig-Holstein region where the facility was located said they were “deeply shaken” by the accident. “Our thoughts are with the family members of the dead, with the injured, and with everyone who had to experience this terrible occurrence,” regional Governor Daniel Günther, Interior Minister Magdalena Finke, and Youth and Families Minister Aminata Touré said in a joint statement carried by the dpa news agency.

原文链接: 南华早报