firework injuries

The Eye Hospital in Rotterdam treated a total of 18 victims who sustained injuries to their eyes due to fireworks by 11:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve. According to the hospital, this was the busiest New Year's in years, NOS reports.

A total of 20 eyes were injured, including 10 that sustained permanent damage. None of the victims wore firework safety glasses, and most incidents involved legal fireworks. The youngest victim is 14 years old. The most other victims are in their 30s. 

The Eye Hospital in Rotterdam treated eight people with fireworks injuries over New Year's. About half of the injuries caused permanent damage, the hospital announced, NU.nl reports.

The number of victims is about the same as last New Year's, though the injuries are somewhat more serious than in previous years, doctor Tjeerd de Faber said to the newspaper. The youngest victim is 15 years old.

"The most injuries were caused by legal fireworks. Half of the victims were bystanders and were hit by flying fireworks", Faber said. 

It seems unlikely that a plan to ban firecrackers before New Year's will be implemented. A majority in parliament is against the plan, doubting how effective it will be in reducing the number of fireworks incidents in the Netherlands every New Year's, NOS reports after speaking with sources around the government.

A total of 434 people were treated for fireworks related injuries at the emergency rooms of Dutch hospitals over New Year's, a decrease of 8 percent compared to the year before. The number of victims under te age of 15 increased from 99 last year to 119 this year, according to a joint study by VeiligheidNL and broadcaster NOS.

New Year's celebrations with fireworks in the Netherlands generally go hand-in-hand with dozens of firework related injuries, and this year was no exception. The Eye Hospital in Rotterdam already admitted eight people with a total of 10 injured eyes. And dozens of people were admitted to hospital with burns and other firework related injuries.

The police will not launch a new investigation into the death of Johan de Lange from Meppel. The 54-year-old man died in hospital three days after a firework exploded in his face over New Year's. According to the police, interviews with witnesses showed that De Lange lit the firework himself and was careless, AD reports. 

De Lange sustained a head injury when a firework he lit himself exploded near his face. It seems that he lit the firework, stepped back and then went closer again when the firework did not go off. It exploded in his face. He died in hospital 3.5 days later.

Dutch authorities are increasingly concerned about dangerous fireworks used to usher in the New Year. 
"Experience show that more and more often extremely dangerous fireworks are lit", Hague Mayor Jozias van Aartsen said in a press statement, according to the Volkskrant.

He calls on all involved to not wait until autumn to start the fireworks discussion in politics and society. "The damage and injuries caused by these dangerous fireworks are no longer proportional to the entertainment they provide", the Hague mayor said.

The Dutch police want parents to be more alert in checking their children and their children's friends for illegal fireworks, Ad Nieuwdorp, fireworks expert at the National Police, said to AD. He called parents "naive" when it comes to dangerous fireworks.

"A cobra is just a grenade and totally not comparable to the strikers and astronauts they themselves lit as a teenager" Nieuwdorp said to the newspaper. He added that a legal soft banger going off in a hand will leave a child with burns, an illegal banger wil blow the hand off.