Falling tree kills 12 at Catholic festival in Portugal

By Axel Bugge

 

Firefighters cover victims of a tree that toppled into worshipping crowds during a religious festival in Funchal, Madeira island, Portugal, August 15, 2017. REUTERS/Duarte Sa

 

LISBON (Reuters) - A tree toppled into a crowd of worshippers during a major Christian festival on the Portuguese island of Madeira on Tuesday, killing 12 people and leaving 50 injured, officials said.

 

The accident happened during Madeira's biggest annual Roman Catholic festival, which draws big crowds to celebrate the island's patron saint, Our Lady of the Mount. Worshippers were struck by the falling tree near a shrine in a park in the hills above Madeira's capital Funchal as they prepared for a procession.

 

Pedro Ramos, health secretary of the local government of Madeira, said 10 people had died on the spot and a further two when they arrived in hospital. He said some of the injured were foreign tourists, including from Germany and France.

 

"My thoughts are with the families and friends of the victims and my solidarity is with the citizens of Madeira," Prime Minister Antonio Costa said. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was travelling to the island to comfort victims.

 

An amateur video posted on the website of local newspaper Jornal deMadeira showed the huge tree crashing down into the crowd, prompting many to run for their lives. Television showed fire and rescue services working to help victims and cut away the fallen tree.

 

"It was terrible, it was so sudden," Xavier Nunes, an eyewitness, told SIC television. Local media said the tree was rotten, and had been partly supported by a metal cable.

 

The festival celebrates the Assumption, or entry into heaven, of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. Every August 15 is a public holiday across Portugal to honour the day.

 

Portugal has had a tough year with a number of disasters, including its most tragic forest fires in memory, which killed 64 people in June. Fires have continued to rage through the summer.

 

Last summer Madeira suffered fierce forest fires that killed at least four people.

 

(Reporting by Axel Bugge; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-08-16

So is this an act of god?

Some would say it is the will of.....

51 minutes ago, Credo said:

Some would say it is the will of.....

NO! ONCE AND FOR ALL! I have nothing to do with it!

Stop blaming me for everything that goes wrong from flat bicycle tires to Fukushima!

 

Sent from my G's Phone

1 hour ago, halloween said:

So is this an act of god?

And if so, which god?

 

1 hour ago, oldhippy said:

And if so, which god?

 

The one who hates Catholics. There's also a god who seems to delight in killing Protestants at church picnics with lightning strikes or flinging into walls school buses carrying them on the way back from said picnics.

4 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

The one who hates Catholics. There's also a god who seems to delight in killing Protestants at church picnics with lightning strikes or flinging into walls school buses carrying them on the way back from said picnics.

And I forgot to mention the God who hates Jews, It's bad enough that he gets them slaughtered by the millions, but he also puts them on a really restrictive diet.

5 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

The one who hates Catholics. There's also a god who seems to delight in killing Protestants at church picnics with lightning strikes or flinging into walls school buses carrying them on the way back from said picnics.

Not to be confused with the god who incites muslims to kill each other over minor differences in belief.

4 minutes ago, halloween said:

Not to be confused with the god who incites muslims to kill each other over minor differences in belief.

Thank goodness none of the various gods who hate various Christian sects have ever stooped to that level! The history of Christianity has been one long demonstration of mutual respect over difference in belief and doctrine.

Edited August 16, 20178 yr by ilostmypassword

3 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

The one who hates Catholics. There's also a god who seems to delight in killing Protestants at church picnics with lightning strikes or flinging into walls school buses carrying them on the way back from said picnics.

My favourite gods are the Viking gods - as they figure in Monty Pythons "Eric the Viking".

In that film Thor, Odin, Loki etc are described as spoiled, bored little children that constantly annoy each other and humans.

I think this is by far the most realistic of all religious fables.

 

4 minutes ago, halloween said:

Not to be confused with the god who incites muslims to kill each other over minor differences in belief.

Ah, you mean the brother of the one that had some fun in Northern Ireland?

See one god, and you know them all.

 

Celebrating the Assumption into heaven.  How ironic. 

1 minute ago, 55Jay said:

Celebrating the Assumption into heaven.  How ironic. 

Wife and I spend about 6 weeks every year in Madeira, and I can assure you that most of the people were there for the party, not for some religious belief....

The accident happened in Monte, 1.000m above Funchal, wonderful view, and starting point of levada walks and the famous but very touristy toboggan run.

2 hours ago, oldhippy said:

And if so, which god?

 

There is only one God.

6 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

Wife and I spend about 6 weeks every year in Madeira, and I can assure you that most of the people were there for the party, not for some religious belief....

The accident happened in Monte, 1.000m above Funchal, wonderful view, and starting point of levada walks and the famous but very touristy toboggan run.

Catholic girls had quite a reputation when I was growing up. 

 

The Mormons were even better. 

Nature 1 God 0

 

Maybe trees worship Satan.

Just now, tubby johnson said:

Nature 1 God 0

 

Maybe trees worship Satan.

I am a fundamentalist atheist.

 

But to be perfectly honest about it......

I can prove that there is no god (easy), but I can not prove that there is no devil. His existence would explain everything.

39 minutes ago, alocacoc said:

There is only one God.

That's what the Jewish and Muslim god believe. The Christian god is a little more ambiguous or should I say tribiguous.