This pretty little three-year-old girl has died after being hit on the head by a flying roofing sheet during a heavy storm.

Little Maria Sophie da Silva Stumpf was playing in the garden with her dad when she was tragically killed in the town of Canela in the Brazilian state of Serra do Rio Grande do Sul on 16th January.

She died at Caxias do Sul Hospital the following day.

According to the victim’s sister Daniela Stumpf, 28, the girl had a skull fracture and died in hospital after suffering two cardiac arrests.

Daniela said: “She was with our father on the patio. He was emptying the pool at one end and she was playing at the other. The weather started to close in and a very strong gust of wind hit.

“It was then that one of the roofing sheets came loose and flew towards them. It first hit my father on the left arm and groin and then hit her in the front of the head. She fell unconscious on the spot.”

The father and a neighbour took the girl to hospital where a skull fracture was diagnosed.

Daniela said: “They had to urgently transfer her to the General Hospital in Caxias. They set up an improvised ICU for her, but during the night and early morning, she suffered two cardiorespiratory arrests and died around 3.30am on Monday. It was very fast and sad for all of us.”

A police investigation is underway to confirm the girl’s exact cause of death.