Rory Ockenden, the four-month-old son of Christopher Ockenden and Erin FitzGibbon of Orangeville, was killed last Saturday afternoon by a falling tree at Sandbanks Provincial Park, near Picton.

The child was camping with his parents and brothers Barrett and Kai.

Sgt. Bob Chapman of the Prince Edward County OPP detachment at Picton said the child was rushed to the local hospital, where he was given primary care, and then rushed by land ambulance to Kingston General Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Sgt. Chapman said the accident was reported to the detachment at 1:30 p.m., and news of the child's death was received at about 6.

Saying the accident was "unpredictable," he could offer no explanation except that "it was a dead old tree. It snapped. Why did it snap when it did? Nobody knows."

At the time of the accident, the weather was calm. "There was no wind, at least not around here," he said.

But Sgt. Chapman did suggest that "dead old trees" do topple, perhaps more often than one might guess. He added that there are probably numerous dead trees throughout provincial parks.

Ironically, another camper in the same park was killed by another falling tree Monday after she and her family went to another Eastern Ontario campground.

Cristina Clayton and her family had left the Sandbanks after learning of Rory's death. The tree fell during a flash storm late Monday night that swept through Southern Ontario, leaving destruction in its wake.

The coincidence of Cristina's death coming just two days after the baby's death wasn't lost on the Clayton family.

"They had just come from the site where the baby had been killed," said family member Cheryl Williams as reported to Toronto news. "They were one week at Sandbanks. It was a devastating thing. You think camping is a safe activity, but with all these freak storms coming up, you just never know ... ."

On a two-week excursion, the Claytons had camped for a week at Sandbanks and had set up their tents at the Warsaw Caves Conservation area, just north of the village of Warsaw in DouroDummer Township.

That visit was tragically cut short when the violent thunderstorm whipped up just before 11 p.m. and toppled a massive tree onto the family's tent trailer, killing Cristina instantly. The other family members escaped from the tent trailer.

The OPP has warned motorists that as a result of the storm the traffic lights at Highway 9 and Highway 400 northbound will be out for several days.

A service celebrating Rory's brief life will be held in the Baxter & Giles chapel of Egan Funeral Home on Friday at 2 o'clock.