An eight-year-old ice hockey fan who had gone to watch a match in northern France with his father died today after he was hit in the head by a puck that flew into the stands.
The freak tragedy occurred some three minutes before the end of the match in Dunkirk last evening, when a player hit the puck -- a rubber disk -- towards the end of the rink and a teammate then diverted it, sending it into the stands.
Hugo, who was with his father, was hit on the ear and suffered cardiac arrest. Rescue workers on site were able to revive him, but he died today of his injuries in hospital.
A puck weighs around 170 grammes (six ounces) and can travel at more than 180 kilometres an hour when hit during a hockey match.
"It's hard. Everyone knows each other, everyone knows the kid," said Dunkirk Mayor Patrice Vergriete.
Today afternoon, some 400 people -- including a lot of children -- gathered in front of the ice skating rink to lay flowers.
A probe has been opened to determine why the accident happened, but the rink was built to the required standards, Vergriete said.
This type of accident is extremely rare, and has never happened before in France.
But in north America where the sport is extremely popular, there have been several such tragedies.
The latest occurred in 2002 when Brittanie Cecil, 13, was killed when a puck was deflected into the stands in Ohio.
