A nine-year-old boy died and his 4-year-old sibling was injured at Kombotades village near the central Greek city of Lamia when a large piece of plane tree trunk collapsed and fell on them.

The accident happened at the central square of the village where children were playing.

“I will never forget what I saw and experienced yesterday evening. Luckily no more children were killed, since many children were playing there. Fortunately when the first crack was heard, a young man who was talking on the phone screamed loudly and the children ran immediately and were saved. Unfortunately, little Babis did not managed to leave the place. They could not lift the tree to get the child… I will never forget these shocking images”, a witness said at LamiaReport.

Police by order of Lamia’s Misdemeanor Prosecutor arrested the city official responsible for Greenery on negligent homicide  charges, since his department responsible for maintaining the trees did not predict the potential hazard.

Lamia municipality said that there are thousands of plane trees in residential areas and that its departments intervene whenever a tree poses danger to the public. Regarding the Kombotades accident, the municipality claimed that they had no indication that the tree was rotten or hazardous.