From Iceland — Lost Three Fingers In Fireworks Explosion

Lost Three Fingers In Fireworks Explosion

Published January 6, 2014

New Year’s Eve in Iceland did have at least one injury, in a case that might involve a defective product.

Vísir reports that the unnamed injured man was brought to the emergency room on New Year’s Eve. Injuries to his hand were extensive. He lost three fingers of one of his hands, and part of a fourth. There were also deep lacerations on his hand, along with some other minor injuries.

The injury was reportedly the result of fireworks. The man bought the fireworks from a private seller in Hafnarfjörður, amongst them a ball rocket.

The man claims he lit the rocket “in the usual way”, and that it did launch, but the explosive ball on the end fell off and rolled across the ground. Seeing this, he picked up the ball, which then exploded in his hand with the aforementioned consequences.

While it is strongly advised to never pick up unexploded fireworks, but rather douse them with water, the ball at the end of the ball rocket is also not supposed to drop off before lift off.

The incident is till being investigated for, amongst other reasons, to see if the rocket might have been defective.

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