Southend council investigates new park tree branch collapse

A council will investigate how a tree branch collapsed in one of its parks three weeks after a falling branch killed a young girl, its leader said.

Seven-year-old Leonna Ruka suffered a fatal head injury and four other children were injured when part of a cedar fell at Chalkwell Park in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, on 28 June.

On Saturday, a large fallen branch of a fir tree was discovered in the city’s Priory Park, which is also maintained by the city council.

“Tree specialists have been working in Priory Park all week carrying out inspections and maintenance, and we’re working to understand what happened in this case,” said Daniel Cowan, Labour.

The council’s tree surgeons removed the branch and inspected the rest of the tree on Saturday, he added.

Further pictures on Your Southend showed some of the branch had collapsed on to a cycle path.

Last month, up to 50 people tried to lift part of a 350-year-old tree when it trapped five children underneath it in Chalkwell Park.

They included Leona, who was on a day trip from Dagenham, east London, and her six-year-old cousin, who remains critically ill in hospital.

The remaining three had minor injuries.

An inquest into Leona’s death was opened and adjourned on Wednesday, with Essex Police and the Health and Safety Executive continuing to investigate the incident.