Sudden Massive Storm Kills 3, Injures Hundreds In Budapest - Reuters

[hatrack]

BUDAPEST - Two people died and a hundred were injured celebrating Hungary's national day in Budapest as a fierce storm hit the city while hundreds of thousands thronged the banks and bridges of the Danube for a fireworks party.

The sudden storm caught revellers unaware, prompting panic, and more than two boats collided on the Danube as the storm hit just after 1900 GMT when the fireworks party started, state news agency MTI reported. Two people were killed by a falling tree as they sought shelter, emergency services said. "Two people died between Margaret Bridge and the Chain Bridge as a tree fell on them," an emergency services spokesman said.

Hungarian state news agency MTI said one more person had also died and 250 people had been hospitalised. The figures from MTI could not be confirmed.

Witnesses said there was panic on the bridges which span the river and that waters had surged through the streets of the city close to the Danube, including a street close to the parliament.

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http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/3774...