Teenage girl fights for life after 'stolen digger incident' in park where seven-year-old was killed by falling tree last year

Published: 16:08, 13 June 2026 | Updated: 16:10, 13 June 2026 A teenage girl is fighting for her life following an incident involving a 'stolen digger' in the same park where a seven-year-old was killed by a falling tree last year. Essex Police rushed to the Chalkwell Park area of Southend, Essex, at around 12.30am today following reports that a young woman had been seriously injured in an incident involving a 'small articulated loading vehicle'. It is understood that a group of people inside the park took unauthorised control of the vehicle and that is how the teenager was hurt.  Paramedics took the girl to hospital, where she remains in a critical condition. Her family has been informed and are being supported. Now, two people - a man aged 18 and a boy aged 17 - have been arrested on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and they remain in custody.     Chalkwell Park is the same Essex park where a seven-year-old girl was killed by a falling tree in June last year. The harrowing accident left a six-year-old girl, who was also caught underneath the tree when it collapsed, in a critical condition while three other children were taken to hospital with minor injuries. A police officer at the cordon in Chalkwell Park, Southend, following today's incident involving a 'small articulated loading vehicle' A spokesperson for Essex Police said: 'A group was reported to have taken unauthorised control of a small articulated loading vehicle. 'The girl is believed to have been involved in an incident with the vehicle and sustained significant injuries. 'Officers and ambulance crews attended promptly, and a cordon remains in place.' They continued: 'We know there were a large number of young people in the area at the time, and we believe some may have witnessed what happened. 'We urgently need to hear from anyone with information or footage. 'You can contact us by submitting a report on our website or via our 24/7 Live Chat service at www.essex.police.uk, or by calling 101 quoting incident 39 of 13 June.' No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.