Over 500 injured in Italy during New Year celebrations

(eTN) – In the late sixties and yearly seventies, fireworks were prohibited in Italy due to a big explosion at a fireworks manufacturer, which killed 60 people.

(eTN) – In the late sixties and yearly seventies, fireworks were prohibited in Italy due to a big explosion at a fireworks manufacturer, which killed 60 people. But for many Italians, the big bangs at midnight are a must. At that time, everything that was not nailed on a wall was thrown out of the windows at Capodanno.

In Rome, people would park their cars miles away on bridges and parkways in order to avoid finding a flying sink on the front seat later or having a bidet smash their car. The astonishing thing was, in the early morning hours of the New Year, the city of Rome was swept clean of all debris.

This year, Italy hit a record with the famous “Botti Di Capodanno” (New Year Pops) with over 500 people injured and 1 death. What started out as a lot of fun became unfortunate tragedies.

Among the injuries are 44 persons in critical condition, as well 68 children under 12 years of age and 59 aged 12-18 years old, as reported by Corriere della Sera.

During the night as the dates changed from December 31 to January 1, the fire brigades received over 80,056 emergency calls in Lazio/Latinum alone (the region of Rome).

This year in Rome, 36 people were seriuosly injured by fireworks, including a young man who lost his hand while handling fireworks. The ambulance system registered 2,145 calls during the night of December 31 until 6:00 am on January 1.

Milan reported that 11 people were hospitalized with major burns and injuries.

But the worst of it may have been in Naples. Over 700 kilos of homemade explosive fireworks were confiscated by police there, and a young father of 39 was killed by a stray bullet from an army gun, as he was enjoying the arrival of the New Year in the streets along with his family.

Naples lead the list with the most incidents and 69 persons injured. Also, fires erupted from high mounds rubbish and smoldering fireworks that piled up in the streets, even causing cars to catch fire. Over 140 interventions were required of the fire brigade to extinguish these fires.

The miracle of clean streets in the early morning hours of the New Year do not happen any longer. But a real miracle did happen in Naples to a young man from Turin. This young man who was hit in the face by a shot gun bullet in the Piazza della Borsa in Naples was waiting for treatment in a hospital, when he sneezed heavily, and the bullet fell out without any surgical intervention.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

Share to...