Falling pine tree in Rome crushes taxi, injuring driver
Posted October 23, 2017 7:00 am
ROME (AP) - A pine tree has crushed a taxi in Rome, injuring the driver but leaving two passengers uninjured.
The taxi was going through a piazza near the Tiber river on Monday when the tree fell on the vehicle. Branches struck two other cars but without causing injuries.
Toppling street trees are a known hazard in Rome. Falling threes injured four people earlier this year. In 2013, a tree killed a man on a motorcycle.
City officials blame the problem on the neglect of past administrations.
Environment Commissioner Pinuccia Montanari estimates that 450 of the 15,000 trees need to be removed.
Montanari said: "That which wasn't done in 10 years, we are racing to do in a year."
Firefighters work on the removal of a tree which collapsed on a taxi in a central neighborhood of Rome, Monday, Oct. 23, 2017. According to reports, the taxi driver was injured while the two women sitting in the cab were unharmed. (Matteo Guidelli/ANSA via AP)
The Associated Press
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