“It is 11pm on December 31, 2022 when my colleague and I sit on the completely exploded hand of an 11-year-old boy,” writes pediatric plastic surgeon Emma Paes of the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital in Utrecht. on Linkedin.
According to Paes, the only option was the amputation of the hand with all the fingers. “He stood with a fist up to his wrist,” he writes. The boy’s right eye was so damaged that he had to be removed by an ophthalmologist.
Pain and sadness
“The entire team in the operating room is working concentrated and in its own way feels the pain and sorrow of this child and his family,” writes Paes. “What should we say to each other now: Happy New Year?”
A spokesman for UMC Utrecht says doctors at the hospital were already afraid of these kinds of injuries. “With this story, the surgeon is trying to give an early warning of how big the impact of heavy fireworks is.”
In her message, Paes is critical of the use of fireworks in the Netherlands: “In the distance, the sky lights up and I hear loud bangs. It looks like war. Can someone explain to me what we are doing in our country?” She also refers to a request by doctors to ban consumer fireworks.
More victims of fireworks
It is not known exactly how the boy was injured, what kind of fireworks they were and where he came from. Previously it was known that a child from Drachten was seriously injured when lighting the fireworks on New Year’s Eve. An underage boy was also seriously injured by the fireworks in Hengelo. He lost an eye in the process. It is not known whether the Wilhemina Children’s Hospital victim is one of these boys.
More than twenty people with eye injuries from the fireworks have been taken to the Rotterdam Eye Hospital. Children were also treated there: the youngest victim is 7 years old.
Fireworks prohibited and permitted
From 1 December 2020, sellers and consumers of fireworks can no longer possess some pyrotechnic products. You can also stop turning on these products:
- fireworks of category F3. The category declaration is on the packaging of the fireworks;
- firecrackers (like firecrackers);
- bang threads (such as Chinese mats);
- single bulk tubes (single shot);
- melted flashes.
During this New Year’s Eve it was permitted to light fireworks such as streamers and peas (category F1) and cakes, compound boxes, ground flowers and fountains (category F2).
Bron: central government
