Two female students were crushed by a falling tree branch early morning today on Le Duan Street, right at the entrance gate of the US general consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, while they were riding to school.

The incident happed at around 7:00am (local time) when a big branch of a tree suddenly fell down. One of them, a student of the Ton Duc Thang University, was seriously injured.

The other victim, THY of Nguyen Huu Tho High School in District 4, said she was riding behind the other student and the tree branch suddenly collapsed, crushing them and their motorbikes.

The rotten tree branch is 30cm in diameter and 15m in length.

The accident happened at early morning when traffic was still thin in the downtown area.

Policemen and rescue staff arrived at the scene to carry the victims to hospital.