Baby, 2 women among 13 killed by tree on Portuguese island

A 12-month-old baby and two foreign women were among the 13 people killed when a huge oak tree crashed down on an outdoor religious festival in Portugal's Madeira Islands, authorities said today.

The foreigners killed in Tuesday's accident were a 42- year-old French woman and a 31-year-old Hungarian woman, Miguel Reis, a local health official, told a news conference. Their names weren't provided.

Madeira, situated off northwest Africa, is a popular European vacation destination. Scores of people were gathered in a leafy square, listening to a Mass, when the tree on a slope above the square came crashing down as a choir sang.
 

Local people told Portuguese media they had told officials that the tree was a danger, but the Funchal city council said it had received no warnings that a tree was unsafe. The public prosecutor's office opened an investigation.

Seven people, including two children, remained hospitalized of the 49 who were injured in Tuesday's accident, which occurred on a public holiday.

The children are a 2-year-old French child and a 14- year-old Portuguese, Reis told a news conference Wednesday in Funchal, Madeira's capital.

He said officials hope to conclude autopsies by the end of the week.

Eight women and five men were among the dead.