A three-year old girl has died after being crushed by a stone war memorial monument on the NSW North Coast.
The incident reportedly occurred at Black Head Bowling Club at Hallidays Point. Several children were playing on the monument – which is outside the front of the venue – when it toppled over, crushing the girl. She was taken to Manning Rural Referral Hospital but later died from her injuries, which were described as severe.
Superintendent Peter Thurtell told the ABC that the child was not one of the children climbing on the monument, but was standing behind it:
The deceased child was not climbing on top of the war memorial. Another child was climbing on top of the war memorial and it appears as though the weight of that child brought it down and another girl was standing behind that slab. We can’t speculate as to why it fell over […] it appears weight was an influencing factor.
The monument has become a makeshift shrine, with locals leaving flowers and floral tributes.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald.
Photo: Google Streetview.
