Deadly start to new year
2006-01-30 07:59
Beijing - Fireworks explosions killed at least 16 people and injured hundreds more in China during Lunar New Year celebrations, state press reported on Monday.
In the most serious accident, 16 people at a temple fair in the central province of Henan were killed on New Year's Day on Sunday when a nearby store room full of fireworks exploded, Xinhua news agency said.
In the capital Beijing, where a 12-year ban on Lunar New Year fireworks had just been lifted, the government reported 112 people were treated at hospital emergency rooms over the weekend for fireworks-related injuries.
Seventeen people suffered serious eye injuries, the State Administration of Work Safety said in a statement. Another 26 were admitted to hospitals with various types of other wounds, it said.
More than 60 people were treated at Beijing's Tongren Hospital, which is the city's number one medical facility for eye care, the Beijing News reported.
"On New Year's Eve alone, we had more than 40 injuries and among them there were around a dozen people with serious injuries," the paper quoted hospital assistant director Tian Jian as saying.
"Most suffered head or facial injuries, but nobody's eyes were removed."
Tian said the hospital had been able to cope with the influx of patients as it had tripled normal staff numbers for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
In China's southwestern Chongqing city, where the fireworks ban was also lifted after 12 years, firefighters rushed to extinguish nearly 200 fires caused by fireworks on New Year's Eve, the Xinhua news agency reported.
"There were 191 fires caused by fireworks overnight on New Year's Eve... a record for the city," Xinhua quoted a local fireworks official as saying.
"Around 3 000 firefighters gave up the chance to spend the New Year with their families to remain on duty the whole time... they have been under enormous pressure."
However, Chongqing officials said there had been no reports of injuries.
A ban on fireworks, which are traditionally believed to ward off evil spirits and ghosts trying to enter the new year, was put in place across 200 cities in China in 1994 due to safety concerns.
The ban was lifted last year for more than 100 cities. It was lifted in Beijing and many other cities this year after authorities said the industry had been cleaned up to ensure higher safety standards.