Girl, 7, dead after Southend park tree collapse with second child 'critical'

A seven-year-old girl has died and a six-year-old girl is in a critical condition after a tree collapsed in a park this afternoon, police have confirmed.

Essex Police said in an update this evening that the young girl died after a tree fell on her and several other children during a day out at Chalkwell Park, Southend-on-Sea, before 3pm today. Emergency services rushed to the scene, with police, ambulances and firefighters deployed as five children were confirmed injured. The East of England Ambulance Service said in a statement that three had sustained "minor injuries" after an air ambulance was flown to their aid.

Three more children received minor injuries and received hospital treatment after the tree fell in Chalkwell Park, Southend-on-Sea, shortly before 3pm on Saturday.

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Chief Superintendent Leighton Hammett of Essex Police said: “Families are facing unimaginable hardship this evening and all of our thoughts are with them at this time.

“I cannot begin to put into words how difficult today’s events have been, and continue to be, for them.

“It’s also not lost on me how traumatic it must have been for the members of the public who witnessed this awful incident.”

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