The fall of the tree that seriously injured two students in the courtyard of a school in Tarn-et-Garonne Thursday is due to weaknesses of the roots of the chestnut tree, combined with gusts of wind, said Friday the prosecutor of Montauban.
"According to the first conclusions of the expert, the tree was obviously in good health.The difficulty comes from its root condition," said the prosecutor Laurent Czernik in a press briefing. "A study of this root part shows that the base of the tree did not develop normally when it was planted," he added, explaining that the roots "did not develop sufficiently laterally, but remained stuck to the tree in a whirlwind effect. "The root system" did not look enough to perform its anchoring function on the ground, "said the prosecutor.
Gusts of wind that precipitated the fall of the tree. At the time of the drama at Bessens, near Montauban, "gusts were blowing from 50 to 60 km / h, and that's what caused the fall of the tree, but they are not bursts of extremely violent winds" , according to him. Two boys aged 7 and 8 were seriously injured. "One had his right leg crushed to the knee" and had to be amputated, while the other "suffers from chest compression and pelvic girdle," said Lawrence Czernik.
The century-old chestnut tree 12 meters high should be quickly evacuated. A flagrant investigation was opened for "unintentional injuries" and about twenty investigators are still mobilized, according to the same source. Fourteen witnesses - all adults, members of the school administration or municipal staff - have already been auditioned. The prosecutor has appointed a forest expert at the Limoges Court of Appeal to "examine the tree so as to evacuate quickly", even if the school holidays start Friday night. The hundred-year-old horse chestnut was 12 meters high and weighed between two and three tons. A dating will be done in the coming days according to the same source.