Tragedy as man dies in fall from town’s Christmas tree

A MAN has died after falling 12 feet from a town’s Christmas tree.

The man was spotted scaling the tree and ‘holding the top’ before plunging to the ground near a busy nightclub.

The alarm was raised around 3am yesterday after the man, said to be in his fifties, fell from the tree outside the town hall in Kirkcaldy, Fife.

Customers leaving the nearby Kitty’s nightclub rushed to his aid after the man fell from the tree in the grounds of council offices.

The top of the Christmas tree, which was broken in the man’s fall, was seen lying on the ground close by.

Nightclub director Mario Caira witnessed the fall and called emergency services.

He said: ‘He’d climbed the tree and was holding the top. When he fell I thought he was actually winded. It’s just a tragedy.

‘Any time of year is bad but this time of year is even worse, and falling from a Christmas tree is probably even worse than that.

‘I’m not medically trained in terms of what happened when he fell out, but I reckon you could do that thousands of times and you would walk away.’ Paramedics tried to save the man at the scene but he later died at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.

Lesley Laird, MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, said: ‘This is tragic news, especially at Christmas. My thoughts are with the man’s family and friends at this time.’

Kirkcaldy North councillor Neil Crooks said: ‘This is a tragic thing to have happened, especially at this time of year.’

Police remained at the location yesterday and the tree was cordoned off for several hours after the incident.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: ‘Police in Fife were called to a report of an unresponsive man in the Hunter Street area of Kirkcaldy around 2.55am on Friday, December 14.

‘The man was treated at the scene then conveyed to Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy by the Scottish Ambulance Service where he later sadly passed away.

‘The death is being treated as non-suspicious and inquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances. A report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal.’

A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service added: ‘We received a call at 2.53am to attend a patient in Hunter Street, Kirkcaldy.

‘We dispatched two ambulance crews to the scene and a male patient in his fifties to Kirkcaldy Hospital.’