A man in his 30s was seriously injured while walking on Cannes’ celebrated Croisette promenade on Saturday when he was struck by a falli
A man in his 30s was seriously injured while walking on Cannes’ celebrated Croisette promenade on Saturday when he was struck by a falling palm tree brought down by high winds.
Local media reported that the victim was a Japanese producer attending the Cannes Film Festival, but Deadline has yet to confirm this information.
The 78th edition of the festival is currently in full tilt with more than 15,000 cinema professionals in town to do business, joined by thousands of day-trippers and tourists hoping to get a glimpse of stars.
A-listers hitting the festival today included Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal and Emma Stone, who were at the Palais des Festivals on Saturday morning for the photo-call and press conference for Ari Aster’s Eddington.
Fallen palm tree on the Croisette
Nadia Romdhani
According to local media reports, the incident took place close to the Gray d’Albion beach around mid-morning when a palm tree was blow over by a gust of wind.
“I was sitting when there was a terrible gust of wind. I heard a cry and turned around and saw a palm tree had been uprooted,” a festival attendee, named as Marthy Fink, told news agency AFP.
“It knocked the person to the ground, who was badly injured,” she continued, suggesting that in her view the palm tree was in bad condition.
A compact section of the Croisette close to where the palm tree fell remained cordoned off as of overdue afternoon on Saturday.
Cordoned off section of the Croisette and fallen Palm tree
Nadia Romdhani
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