Italian police seized six tonnes of illegal fireworks in Rome, today. However, there have already been two serious incidents were a man is intensive care and a child lost three fingers due to fireworks incidents.
In an ongoing effort to curb the use of potentially lethal New Year explosive devices, Italian authorities confiscated six tonnes of illegal fireworks in Rome on Saturday. The annual use of fireworks in Italy results in numerous injuries and fatalities.
This year, major cities, including Rome and Palermo, have implemented bans on fireworks for New Year’s Eve. Despite these restrictions, some people are expected to defy the orders. Notoriously, the most exuberant and hazardous celebrations occur in Naples, a southern city with the highest casualty toll in Italy.
One of the latest additions to the array of high-explosive fireworks in Naples is the “Kvara Bomb,” named after the Georgian dribbling sensation Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
This explosive joins a list of infamous illegal fireworks with names such as the COVID Bomb, Cobra 7, the Rambo 1, the Uranus 2020, the Kamikaze, the Bin Laden Bomb, The Maradona Bomb, The Pope Bomb, Desert Storm, Red October, Turbo 3, The Spread, Maya, and Insigne, named after former Napoli striker Lorenzo Insigne.
In 2008, women in Naples initiated a ‘no sex if you let off fireworks’ campaign in response to the mayhem caused by fireworks. The initiative had some success in reducing injuries by about 100 cases.
Two cases of serious maiming due to fireworks
Although there were no deaths from fireworks during New Year celebrations across Italy last year, several people were injured, with the majority of incidents occurring in Naples.
This year, a 10-year-old boy lost two fingers and a thumb to a firecracker near Taranto on December 28th. The victim was maimed by the sudden explosion of the homemade firecracker he had bought shortly before from a woman who was traced and cited.
Other illegally detained fireworks were found in the woman’s home.
The child, initially taken to the Santissima Annunziata hospital in Taranto, was then transported to the Policlinico di Bari where he was admitted to the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery department.
A 28-year-old man is currently in intensive care after being struck by the blast of a massive firecracker in Anzio on the Roman seaside. The Carabinieri swiftly arrived at the location and determined that moments earlier, the young man, who was attending a party inside a club, had stepped outside and was unintentionally struck by the blast from a large firecracker thrown by a careless friend.
Authorities have identified the friend responsible for the explosion.
