A Hindu priest’s morning prayer ritual was disturbed yesterday by a loud crash.

Laxmi Narayan Temple priest Jainendra Shastri rushed outside to see that a fallen tree had landed on top of a black sports util­ity vehicle at Holland Street, Suva.

In haste, Mr Shastri helped the occupants of the vehicle to safety.

The vehicle was damaged.

A family member in the vehicle said they were thankful that none of the five passen­gers including two toddlers were injured.

“I quickly helped take the people out of the vehicle. They were not seriously injured but were in shock,” he said.

“There were two toddlers and a woman in the back. The driver was a young man and the front seat passenger seemed to be his mother.

“The trees along Holland Street are a dan­ger. A little over a month ago another tree fell. No one was around at that time.”

The family from Toorak said they were safe and thanked God for their safety. They said the driver of the vehicle had caught the fall­ing tree with the corner of his eye and sped through.

This prevented injury to its passengers. The windscreen of the vehicle remained in­tact although damaged preventing serious injuries to the family.

Trees to be removed

A close examination of the tree found that the roots had almost rotted and were no long­er able to hold the tree upright.

The Suva City Council has started remov­ing the raintrees that line Holland Street and in Suva.

According to the council, trees would be ex­amined and those found to be weak and rot­ting would be removed entirely.

Other trees would be trimmed as the cy­clone season approaches.

Toorak resident Nilesh Prasad said the trees had always been a danger because branches kept on falling.

He said it was about time the trees were cut down.