Man badly hurt by falling palm tree at Cannes film festival

CANNES: A man was seriously hurt after a palm tree fell onto him at the Cannes film festival on Saturday.

The Asian man, believed to have been attending the festival, was badly injured, firemen who treated him at the scene said.

A sudden gust of wind brought the tree down near the Palais des Festivals on the Croisette esplanade overlooking the Mediterranean, an AFP journalist at the scene said.

The accident happened as the American movie "Eddington", starring Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone and Pedro Pascal was being shown.

The Croisette was crowded with festivalgoers when the tree fell, witnesses said.

"There was a terrible gust of wind and I heard a cry," said Marthy Fink from Luxembourg.

"It knocked a man to the ground, badly injuring him," she told AFP.

The man had just squeezed past her on the crowded Croisette - "he was clearly in a hurry" - when the tree fell, said Fink, who was visibly shaken.