Veendam football fan dies in fireworks accident

A 26-year-old man is dead following a horrific fireworks accident at a football match in Veendam Sunday evening.

It was supposed to be a victory party, after Veendam 1894 football club won a periodic match Bargeres at the sport park De Lange Leegte. A party started in the canteen, but around 6.00pm tragedy struck, bringing the festivities to an abrupt halt. Police say they are still investigating what exactly took place, but reports are that the fireworks blew up right in the young man’s face. Witnesses said that after Veendam 1994’s victory, elated fans who had come to the sports park en masse, started setting off heavy caliber fireworks. “Those were definitely not little firecrackers,” one witness said. A trauma helicopter rushed to the scene, but there was nothing the paramedics could do for Pinkster. He passed away on the scene. Police were interviewing witnesses until late Sunday night. Police spokesman Robert Jan Valkema said it is not clear whether the young man, who has been identified as Berry Pinkster from Veendam, had lit the fireworks himself, or whether someone else did it. “We would like to know that too. We’re trying to get the correct information from the people we are hearing on the scene,” Valkema said.