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Girl, five, dies in gate tragedy Girl, five, dies in gate tragedy
(about 11 hours later)
A five-year-old girl has died after being trapped by a sliding automatic gate. The gate at Brook Court has been de-activated
South Wales Police said emergency services attended the scene at Brook Court, Bridgend, on Sunday afternoon. Police are investigating the death of a five-year-old girl who was trapped by an automatic sliding gate.
She was taken to the Princess of Wales Hospital, where she later died. South Wales Police said emergency services attended the scene at an apartment block in Bridgend, on Saturday afternoon.
Police say a full investigation is being carried out, next of kin are being informed and a file is being prepared for the coroner. No more details have been released. The girl, who has not been named, was taken to the Princess of Wales Hospital, where she later died.
Floral tributes, teddies and cards have been left on the railings outside Brook Court.
Local councillor Peter Foley said: "It's a great tragedy. I don't blame the kids for playing here. They should be safe here."
Police say a full investigation is being carried out, next of kin are being informed and a file is being prepared for the coroner.
The waist-high black metal gate is at the entrance to a small car park at a three-storey apartment building about five minutes walk from the town centre.
Residents at the modern block of privately-owned flats, which is surrounded by streets of terraced houses, said the accident happened about 1700 BST on Saturday.
Eleanor Jones, who lives opposite the scene, said a large number of police officers were in the street when she returned home about 1830 BST.
She said: "I can't believe it because the little girl was there when I went out.
"By the time I came home it was just police in the street. I had seen her but I didn't know her."
She added: "It's devastating. You can't believe that a gate would do that."
Floral tributes have been left at the scene
The gate was open and de-activated following the incident.
Deborah Rees, editor of Bridgend's newspaper The Glamorgan Gazette, drove past the girl playing an hour before the tragedy.
She said: "She was sitting in the garden opposite the car park, playing quite happily with a couple of cats.
"I had seen her before. She was a happy little thing, always smiling."
Miss Rees added that people in Bridgend could not comprehend how the accident had happened.
She added: "That gate is just so slow when it opens and closes. It gives you plenty of time to get out of the way. It's about 30 seconds until it's fully open."
Among tributes left at the scene, one read: "Tears are in my eyes when I think about a beautiful little girl lost."
Another said: "Pedal your little bike as fast as you can to heaven. Sleep tight little angel."
The incident follows the death in Manchester last Monday of a six-year-old crushed by an electronic gate.
Semelia Campbell was playing with a friend near her home in Moss Side when the motorised gate closed on her.
The schoolgirl was eventually freed when police broke off an electronic box.
She was rushed to Manchester Royal Infirmary but died from her injuries a short time later.