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FIREWORKS

German police seize 850kg firework stash

German police said Sunday they confiscated 850 kilos of fireworks and firecrackers from a 23-year-old man in Hamburg, ahead of New Year's festivities.

Published: 30 December 2018 13:24 CET
German police seize 850kg firework stash
Photo: Depositphotos

Police were tipped off by the man's neighbour that he was stockpiling a large quantity of pyrotechnics.

Officers descending on the man's home found the fireworks packed into his apartment, cellar and two vans, a police spokeswoman told national news agency DPA.

The pyrotechnics contained around 80 kilos of explosive substances — 80 times over the limit of fireworks that can be legally stored in a private home.

Fireworks and rockets are an essential part of New Year's festivities in Germany, with revellers firing off huge amounts of pyrotechnics from balconies or their lawns.

They are sold on the last three days of the year, with people in Germany spending 137 million euros ($156 million) on them last year.

But January 1 is also marked by casualty reports of individuals injured or even killed by fireworks.

On New Year's 2018, pyrotechnic mishaps left two people dead, a child injured and five people requiring amputations.

This season, several injuries have already been reported even before New Year's eve, with two people including a 14-year-old losing fingers to firecracker blasts gone wrong, while an 18-year-old was hospitalised for severe burns.

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FIREWORKS

Firework kills 13-year-old boy in Italy on New Year’s Eve

A 13-year-old boy was killed, 79 people injured, and huge numbers of birds left dead by New Year’s Eve fireworks in Italy, despite local bans on personal firework displays.

Published: 2 January 2021 13:05 CET
Firework kills 13-year-old boy in Italy on New Year's Eve
Fireworks above St Peter's Basilica in Rome on New Year's Eve. Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP
The boy, from a Roma camp outside the northern Italian city of Asti, died in hospital in the early hours of New Year's Day after a firecracker severely injured his abdomen. 
 
At the same time, the International Organization for the Protection of Animals (OIPA) called for a ban on fireworks in a post showing starling carcasses littering a street in Rome. 
 
“It can be that they died from fear. They can fly up together and knock against each other, or hit windows or electric power lines. Let’s not forget they can also die of heart attacks,” said Loredana Diglio, a spokeswoman for the organisation.
 
 

Despite the boy's tragic death, a local ban on personal fireworks displays in Rome, and nationwide lockdown over New Year's Eve meant for an unusually subdued celebrations, with the number of accidents requiring firefighters to be called out was down by two thirds. 
 
Firefighters carried out 229 interventions across Italy over New Year’s Eve, compared with 686 last year, the the department of public security said in over Twitter. 
 
Of the 79 people injured, 23 were hospitalised,
 
Most of of the call-outs were in Lazio, the region surrounding Rome.
 
A woman was taken to hospital in Naples after she was hit on the head by a firecracker splinter while taking the rubbish out. 
 
A man in Milan lost two of his fingers in the most serious incident there, while others across Italy reported injuries to their hands and close to their eyes. 
 
Eight of the total injured were children.
 
OIPA said that the birds dead in the picture appeared to have been killed by a particularly loud display of firecrackers and fireworks in the leafy neighborhood where many of the birds have their nests. 
 
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