Christmas tree of crates breaks world record

The eastern German city of Gera was the site of a new world record on Sunday after volunteers erected a nearly 18-meter-high Christmas tree made out of stacked drink crates.

The tree included a total of 2,790 crates and came in at a final height of 17.88 meters, Bernd Lehmann from we4kids, a volunteer group that helped organize the construction, told the dpa news agency.

The German records' institute confirmed the achievement, he said.

Read more: Sri Lanka claims world's tallest artificial Christmas tree

Organizers built the tree to draw attention to child poverty and the value of volunteer work in Germany.

The city of Rostock on Germany's northeastern coast was the site of the previous record. In 2015, a local brewery erected a 12-meter-high Christmas tree made out of 1,200 beer crates.

Bernd said the new record holder would stay up until early January.

"We might take it down earlier if the winds pick up before then," he said.

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