DOH: Firecracker-related injuries climb to 56

MANILA, Philippines — The number of individuals hurt due to firecrackers and fireworks climbed to 56 as nine more cases of firecracker-related injuries have been recorded on New Year’s Eve  the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.

In its Fireworks-Related Injury (FWRI) Surveillance report, the DOH recorded nine more cases of firecracker-related injuries on Monday morning, Dec. 31.

This brought the total of firecracker-related cases to 56, which were recorded from Dec. 21 to 6 a.m. of Dec. 31.

The DOH said that the latest tally of firecracker-related injuries was just half of the recorded cases in the same period last year.

“This number is 56 cases (50 percent) lower compared to the same reporting period of 2017 and 166 cases  (75 percent) lower to 5-year average,” the DOH said in its report.

According to the DOH report, 53 cases of the reported injuries were caused by exploding firecrackers while two cases were caused by firecracker ingestion.

The DOH noted that 32 cases were blast or burn injuries without amputation; five cases were blast or burn injuries with amputation; and 19 cases were eye injuries.

The health agency also pointed out that majority or 89 percent of those reported injured by firecrackers were male victims.

In the report, the injuries were inflicted by the use of “boga” or PVC cannon (14), “kwitis” or rocket (6) , triangle firecracker (3), piccolo (3), baby rocket (2), “bawang” (2), camara (2), and “luces” or sparklers (2), and 5-star (3). /muf