Teen loses hand, two boys hurt in Amsterdam fireworks blast
A 14-year-old boy in Amsterdam was seriously injured in a New Year's Day fireworks accident that left him without a hand. The accident was caused by the premature blast of explosives that were bound together.
Two other boys, aged 10 and 11, also received facial injuries from the incident. All three were transported to an area hospital.
The accident happened just before 3:44 p.m. on the Willem Molengraaffstraat in the Slotermeer area of the city. Emergency services sent two ambulances to the seen along with a trauma team in a helicopter.
Prior to the accident, authorities in the Amsterdam region reported a "relatively quiet and manageable" New Year's period. By early afternoon, ambulances had responded to 319 different calls, of which six were injuries due to fireworks.
Police in the capital arrested 43 people, including several at five different incidents of violence against emergency workers. Many of these included lobbing fireworks at first responders.
Firefighters were dispatched 165 times over New Year's Eve and the first 12 hours of 2018. Though there was a drop in container fires and no major blazes, 17 of the responses were to car fires, five were for ignited scooters, and two others involved trucks that caught fire.
