Honolulu firework blast kills three and leaves others with ‘war-zone injuries’
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Tougher penalties promised for illegal fireworks as more than 20 people suffer severe burns and shrapnel wounds. Emergency crews arrived at a chaotic and gruesome scene in a neighbourhood of Honolulu, Hawaii, after a large new year’s firework tipped over and set off a fiery, shrapnel-studded blast that killed three people and injured more than 20 others, several of them critically.
Two women died at the scene and a third woman died in hospital, authorities said on Wednesday, as they implored people to abandon their new year’s tradition of setting off fireworks across the city. Officials promised tougher penalties for illegal fireworks.
The governor of Hawaii, Josh Green, described the deaths in detail at a news conference to emphasise the potential danger of fireworks. He said: “We are talking about the worst possible, war-zone injuries that took their lives.”. Some of the more than 20 people taken to hospital with severe burns and shrapnel wounds included children, said officials, who had not yet publicly identified any victims.
Police were investigating whether charges for the person who lit the firework at about midnight were warranted, Honolulu’s chief of police, Arthur Logan, said. The blast happened at a three-storey home with a ground-level carport. Piles of debris, including bundles of blackened firework mortars, could be seen in front of the house on Wednesday morning.
