A hugely tragic incident occurred at a wedding in Whittier‘s Penn Park in Los Angeles: a 100ft (30m) Eucalyptus tree fell during the event, right on top guests.
One woman has died, and five others are injured, including a 4-year-old child.
In an official statement, Whittier Police said:
“The injured were transported to local area hospitals where it has since been reported one of the victims has succumbed to their injuries.Another, described only as a 4-year-old female, is in critical condition as a result of head trauma.”
#Breaking– Rescuers in #Whittier r working 2 free victims trapped after a large tree fell on a wedding party. @NBCLA live with updates now. pic.twitter.com/iUJrfsQyBS
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) December 18, 2016
The group were taking wedding pictures under the tree, when the tree reportedly collapsed without warning.
People scattered from underneath the fallen tree, and passers-by rushed to help those trapped underneath. It’s being reported that witnesses were also giving CPR to those who were injured.
Tree falls on wedding party in Whittier, CA, killing 1 person, injuring 5 others. pic.twitter.com/0jvhTuvE4X
— Fox News (@FoxNews) December 18, 2016
A witness who had been at Quinceanera in the park, Gilbert Duran, said he’d been standing underneath the tree only moments beforehand, but his group had changed location in order to get better light for photos.
“It’s nuts. This tree is humongous. I can’t believe this.They’re taking pictures under this tree and all of a sudden it just collapsed. We just watched some little kids go flat underneath that tree.I hope they’re going to be OK. Pray for these families at Penn Park in Whittier.”
The reason for the tree falling is unknown. The police statement read:
“This is an ongoing investigation and it is unknown at this time as to what may have caused the tree to fall.”
Source: Whittier Daily News.
Photo: Twitter / KTLA.
