One dies from tree branch crash in Azerbaijan’s historic Sheki

One woman has passed away several days after being crushed by the branches of a 500-year-old tree in Azerbaijan’s historic city of Sheki. 

Another five people are int he hospital since the incident which took place on 14 July.

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Details

The tree in question, a 500-year-old plane tree growing in the courtyard of the Palace of the Sheki Khans, was one of the main local attractions and gathers many tourists on weekends. 

On Sunday, July 14, several heavy branches of the tree broke down and fell on people nearby.

A total of 19 people were injured, including several Arab tourists. Four victims had to be taken for treatment in Baku, and one was left for treatment in Sheki.

The name of 32-year-old Khatira Agamalyeva was not in the initial list of those hospitalized, Report.az writes, however later it became known that she was placed in Sheki Central Hospital with a fragmentation fracture of the hip and traumatic shock. She died on July 15.

Why did the branches fall in the first place?

Immediately after the accident, representatives of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the State Tourism Agency, as well as metropolitan doctors, arrived at the scene of the accident.

The situation was taken under the personal control of President Ilham Aliyev.

Experts and the Prosecutor General’s Office conducted a joint investigation to find out the reasons for the fall of the branches – the official version is that a strong wind broke them, blowing in Sheki in those days.

A week before the incident, the Palace of the Sheki Khans, together with the historic center of the city, was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. 

The plane tree (or “Khan’s Chinar”) growing near the palace is itself a landmark too – it was planted in 1530 and is in the Red Book of Azerbaijan.