Python crashes either when using recursion one too many times or accessing a large list

size = len(numbers)
tree = [None] * size * 3

def build_tree(numbers, root, node, element):
        if element != 0 and element != size:
            if tree[node] < numbers[element]:
                if tree[node + 2] is None:
                    tree[root] = numbers[element]
                    tree[node + 2] = root
                    build_tree(numbers, root + 3, 0, element + 1)

                else:
                    build_tree(numbers, root, tree[node + 2], element)

            elif tree[node] > numbers[element]:
                if tree[node + 1] is None:
                    tree[root] = numbers[element]
                    tree[node + 1] = root
                    build_tree(numbers, root + 3, 0, element + 1)

                else:
                    build_tree(numbers, root, tree[node + 1], element)

        elif element == 0:
            tree[root] = numbers[element]
            build_tree(numbers, root + 3, 0, element + 1)


build_tree(numbers, 0, 0, 0)

I wrote this function for an assignment I had and it works as intended, but only for up to about 300 integers. After that it crashes and I haven't been able to figure out why. Same thing happens for my C implementation of the very same code.

The function builds a binary search tree, the values are taken from the numbers array.

   tree[0] > value of node
   tree[1] > index of right child
   tree[2] > index of left child

to give an example, tree[tree[2]] would give us the value of left child of tree[0].

Here's the result:

Process finished with exit code -1073741571 (0xC00000FD)