One killed in Nijmegen fireworks accident just after midnight on New Year's

One person was reportedly killed in an accident involving fireworks in Nijmegen shortly after the midnight countdown on New Year's Eve. The city is one of 20 in the Netherlands that already has a ban on fireworks use. In the first hour of the new year, at least 10 people across the Netherlands were transported to the hospital in Rotterdam specializing in the treatment of traumatic eye injuries.

The fatal incident in Nijmegen took place on Meeuwse Acker shortly before 12:30 a.m., police said on social media. Information about the victim's identity was not released, and an investigation was ongoing.

"We extend our deepest condolences to all those involved and their families," police in Gelderland stated. Fifteen minutes earlier, another individual was seriously injured in a fireworks accident on Wolfstraat in Cluemborg. They were rushed to an area hospital.

Even though Nijmegen has a local ban in place, fireworks were being set off en masse in the city, videos published by De Gelderlander showed. People all across the country were setting off large quantities of fireworks on New Year's Eve and the start of New Year's Day, including in the municipalities where the practice is forbidden.

Fireworks were being set off all across Amsterdam, including the Dappermarkt, Insuindenweg, Lindengracht, and Museumplein areas. In Rotterdam, the fireworks ban was widely well before midnight. One reporter saw the flashes and heard the loud bangs in many places, and the sky was lit up by the numerous fireworks already being set off.

Police were nowhere to be seen on the streets of Rotterdam-Noord, and no action was taken to address those setting off fireworks, according to a reporter. Thousands of people gathered on the quays around the Erasmus Bridge for the National Fireworks.

In Utrecht, a reporter also saw large numbers of fireworks over various parts of the city. The fourth largest city in the country is also one of the 20 municipalities with a fireworks ban in effect this New Year's period.

The 20 cities with a total ban include Alkmaar, Amersfoort, Amsterdam, Apeldoorn, Arnhem, Bloemendaal, Eindhoven, Haarlem, Heemstede, Heumen, Mook and Middelaar, Nijmegen, Rotterdam, Schiedam, Soest, Tilburg, Utrecht, Utrechtse Heuvelrug, Zutphen, and Zwolle.

More than one hundred municipalities have established fireworks-free zones, for example around hospitals, residential care centers, and nature reserves.