Boy loses hand, 160 hurt due to fireworks
TRUMPETS OVER FIREWORKS. Health Secretary Enrique Ona promotes the 'Iwas Paputok' campaign at The Ryzza Mae Show. Photo from the DOH Facebook page
MANILA, Philippines – More than 160 people have been injured by fireworks in the Philippines as they prepared to welcome the New Year, the government said Saturday, December 28.
A 14-year-old boy who lost his right hand and an elderly man with a ruptured eyeball were among the worst injured so far, Assistant Health Secretary Eric Tayag said.
He tweeted that a 5-year-old had also lost his right index finger from using fireworks.
The Asian nation of 100 million people traditionally greets the New Year by making noise in the belief it will drive bad spirits away.
Households start stockpiling fireworks around Christmas and start using them days before New Year's Eve.
Tayag said government hospitals had tallied 164 firework injuries in the run-up to New Year's Eve, plus one case of a firecracker being swallowed.
"Active fireworks users (are) up by 8% this year compared to 2012," he said, without giving figures.
Bullet wounds one
Apart from fireworks, gun owners are another seasonal hazard as they fire their weapons in the air to celebrate Christmas and New Year.
Tayag said one person was also wounded by a stray bullet.
Celebratory gunfire killed a 4-year-old boy and more than 400 others were injured by powerful fireworks in the run-up to 2013, according to police and health department tallies.
The Philippine National Police (PNP), for its part, boosted its own measures to prevent firework injuries.
The PNP ordered the muzzling of security guards' firearms before New Year's Eve celebrations on December 31. (READ: PNP to guards: No guns to greet New Year.)
This will prevent abuses by “irresponsible gun owners,” the police said. – with reports from Agence France-Presse/Rappler.com
