A tragic accident in front of a nursery... An infant died after an avocado fell on his head

A mother in Argentina revealed that her infant died after an avocado fell from a tree on his head while he was in her arms, accusing the municipal council of ignoring repeated warnings calling for the tree to be removed, according to the Independent newspaper.

According to local media, baby Lucas was only 12 days old when the fruit fell on his head outside a nursery in the city of Quilmes in the Argentine province of Buenos Aires, last Thursday.

His mother, Juliana Gomez (30 years old), was taking her five-year-old son to the nursery located on Calle Conesa Street, and carrying her infant in her arms, when an avocado fell on his head, causing him to suffer multiple skull fractures.

A witness whose identity was not revealed, in statements to a local media outlet, said that the ambulance did not arrive at the scene until 20 minutes later, indicating that it was not equipped with the necessary equipment to treat the infant.

He added: “Lucas was not bleeding, but he was writhing, and then suddenly he started crying.” Then his mother realized what had happened, and almost fainted. “I had to hold the baby.”

Lucas underwent a three-hour surgery, after which he was transferred to the intensive care unit, but he died four days after the accident, specifically on Sunday.

Gomez held the municipal council responsible for the tragedy, noting that residents had asked officials, for more than a year, to prune the three trees near the nursery, but their demands received no response.

She said: “They did not come to prune the tree in advance to avoid this accident.” They have been demanding their removal since 2025,” she said, explaining that avocados were already falling at the entrance and exit of the nursery.

For his part, the child’s uncle told local media: “We have school records dating back to last year, which include requests to the municipality to cut down the tree.”

He added: “After Lucas died, they secretly cut down the tree. There was a previous complaint from a father who lost consciousness after being hit by an avocado, and other children were almost injured due to falling fruits.”

Gomez stated that, following the death of her child, the municipality allowed her to communicate with a psychologist, but she said that he “asked about my son’s condition, even though he had already died.”

Press reports, citing local security sources, stated that the Public Prosecutor’s Office No. 9 in Kelms was investigating the case, which was initially classified as a death resulting from “injury due to negligence.”

A report stated that the British Ministry of Defense issued new directives on health and safety, urging soldiers to stay away from screens for 10 minutes every hour, and to use emojis in internal correspondence, with the aim of reducing stress, according to what was reported by the Independent newspaper.

The Times reported that these policies include military personnel and civilian employees working in the Ministry of Defense in the United Kingdom, including those working in operating drones, cyber defense, and analyzing intelligence information.

Military commanders directed the implementation of these measures to reduce “visual stress and mental pressure,” and they also instructed managers to intervene directly if employees do not commit to taking breaks away from their workplaces, provided that these breaks are in addition to the usual lunch periods.

An Australian woman convicted of murder over a mushroom-poisoned lunch she served her relatives has lost her bid to have her conviction overturned, receiving instead a worse sentence. Last year, Erin Patterson was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 33 years on three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder related to a Beef Wellington lunch she served in July 2023.

Her legal team had argued that she had not received a fair trial and presented seven grounds for appeal. On Friday, the Supreme Court rejected her appeal, but accepted the prosecution's appeal against her sentence.

Judges said Patterson's crime was "extraordinarily cold and calculated" and deemed it inappropriate to set a period of conditional release. They re-sentenced Patterson to life in prison without the possibility of parole, meaning she will remain in prison for the rest of her life.