A nine-year-old girl was killed after a tree fell and hit her head at a tourist site in Da Lat, a popular resort town in Vietnam’s Central Highlands.

The victim, Hoang Nguyen Hieu An, was visiting the Clay Sculpture Tunnel, located about 13 kilometers from the center of Da Lat, where the incident occurred at around 3:00 pm on Wednesday.

She was posing for a photo when a five-meter-tall tree suddenly broke and fell onto the young girl, causing serious head injuries.

An was immediately brought to the Lam Dong Province General Hospital for emergency treatment, but later succumbed to her injuries.

Local media outlets added that several other visitors suffered minor scratches from the fallen tree.

The inner wood of the tree has become rotted. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Initial information showed that the tree still had fresh bark and leaves, but inside the trunk the wood near the roots had rotted.

Nguyen Thi Xuan Quynh, the Clay Sculpture Tunnel’s sales and marketing manager, shared that the site operators are coordinating with competent authorities and the victim’s family to handle the case.

The Clay Sculpture Tunnel, also known as Clay Village or Clay Tunnel, is a carved ditch about 1.2 kilometers long near Tuyen Lam Lake.

Often listed as a must-see destination in Da Lat, the site features clay sculptures of animals, flowers, vehicles, famous figures, and well-known Da Lat architecture.

As the ditch cuts through the forest, many trees still stand alongside the walkway.

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