2 teenagers die in Germany in accidents involving fireworks

Two 18-year-old men died after suffering fatal facial injuries in accidents involving homemade fireworks in the German city of Bielefeld, police said early on Thursday. The accidents took place on New Year's Eve at different locations in Bielefeld, in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. One of the two teenagers died at the scene of the accident in Bielefeld's Baumheide district. The injured man in the Brake district died of his injuries after attempts to resuscitate him in hospital failed. The type of pyrotechnics involved was not initially disclosed. According to the police, there were witnesses to both incidents and there were initially no indications of third-party negligence. Others hospitalized around Germany A 23-year-old man lost his left hand in Reddelich, near the north-eastern city of Rostock, when a firecracker exploded on New Year's Eve, according to a police spokesperson. The type of firework involved in the incident was not initially known. In Berlin, five people were admitted to the Berlin Accident Hospital with injuries caused by fireworks as of 10:30 pm (2130 GMT) on Wednesday, the hospital said on X. Two of them were seriously injured. In Leipzig, a 16-year-old girl seriously injured her hand while attempting to light illegal fireworks, police said. The teenager lost her little finger and part of her ring finger. A common occurrence Setting off pyrotechnics is only allowed on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day in Germany. Revellers regularly suffer serious injuries, sometimes even fatal ones, while handling pyrotechnics, with homemade explosive devices and powerful illegal fireworks known as "ball bombs" are considered particularly dangerous. Carelessness with fireworks cost five men their lives during last New Year's Eve in Germany. According to an analysis by the AOK health insurance company, the number of hospital admissions due to fireworks injuries on New Year's Eve over the past 10 years averaged around 530 cases, which is about 2.6 times higher than on normal weekdays and about 4.4 times higher than on average weekends. Every year, medical experts, police officers as well as environmental and animal rights activists call for a ban on the sale of fireworks.