Boy, 14, Still Critical After Rotterdam Fireworks Blast

The 14-year-old Hamza from Rotterdam is still in an induced coma, after he was critically injured on New Year's Eve by shrapnel from a parking meter, that was blown up with illegal fireworks. The boy sustained brain damage. Hamza was celebrating New Year's Eve at his mom's in Charlois and had gone out on the street to set off fireworks. When a group of youth was about to blow up a parking meter 40 meters away on the corner of Wolphaertsbocht and Den Hertigstraat, bystanders called out to him to run, but it was too late. parking meter explosion
IVT RTDzuid / Twitter A piece of iron, meant to protect the meter against fireworks vandals, hit Hamza against the head and scalped him. An uncle of Hamza applied first aid. 'He pressed his hand against Hamza's head and then a cloth someone handed to him,' said Hamza's father, Mohammed (45). 'I'm eternally grateful to him. Without him Hamza would not be alive now. The doctors don't know whether he will make it.' Mohammed helped the police locate the suspects. Friends of Hamza, who witnessed the incident, refused to say anything until finally Mohammed took them to the hospital so they could see for themselves the critical condition their friend is in. Only then did they start to talk. Soon after, the police were able to arrest 3 boys and a girl, ranging in age from 16 to 19. The girl was released soon after, because she had only handed the boys a lighter. The others remain in custody.