Chalkwell Park tree crushes girl, 7, to death 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 partially collapsed in a park this afternoon, police have confirmed.

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

READ MORE: Chalkwell Park UPDATES: Girl 7, dead in tree collapse as another fights for life

Those three received hospital treatment, with Leighton Hammett, the Chief Superintendent of Essex Police, saying this evening that the families involved face "unimaginable hardship".

He 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."

The park was busy at the time of the incident, with several people, including nearby cricket players, having rushed to the aid of the children after the tree branch fell, earning them praise from the Chief Superintendent.

He said: "Across a matter of moments, many of them went from enjoying the warm summer weather to rushing to the aid of strangers without a second thought. They showed the best of Southend today, and I’m sorry this update does not bring them more positive news."

Among the witnesses was accountant Ishan Madan, 39, from Westcliff-on-Sea, who said he was playing in a cricket match nearby when he heard a “horrendous, screeching scream”.

He said his team immediately ran towards the clubhouse where the tree was located, finding several children hit by a branch, two of whom were "stuck under this massive tree". He said: “Everyone ran towards the clubhouse, where the tree is. The tree had snapped and I think there were four children, the fifth one was slightly further away, I think she’d be hit by a branch.

"Two of them were under a smaller branch, they were rescued easily, and unfortunately, the other two girls, they were stuck under this massive tree.

“So we got bystanders to help, it must have been 40 to 50 people who then tried to lift the fallen tree up and to our horror, these two little girls, poor girls, were stuck underneath it. Their mother was on the corner. It was horrendous.”

Police are continuing to conduct enquiries at the park, the service said, with investigations seeking to establish the circumstances leading up to the shock incident.