Flying beach umbrella kills woman after being picked up by strong winds

The woman was struck by the umbrella at Virginia Beach (pictured in file photo)
Mark Lagola
Hatty Collier9 June 2016

A woman has died after being stabbed in the chest by a beach umbrella that was picked up by a strong gust of wind.

The 56-year-old woman was on Virginia Beach in the US when the umbrella blew across the sand and struck her.

Police said officers received an emergency call to a cardiac arrest and arrived to find the woman with a life-threatening injury.

Medics rushed her to hospital but she later died.

The umbrella was anchored in the sand before it blew across the beach and fatally struck the victim, police said.

Virginia Beach officer Tonya Pierce described her death as a “horrific accident”.

Witness Hugh Martin told a US news outlet that the woman had been talking to children when she was hit.

He said: "It's pretty windy down here. It kind of looked like something out of like, Wizard of Oz.

"I mean, literally, I saw the umbrella go up in the air and, literally, it hit the woman, literally knocking her to the side.

"I mean, immediately the lifeguards, people started to rush around, it was one of the scariest things I've ever seen."

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