Fireworks light up the sky in this file photo as Filipinos welcome New Year 2015 in Manila, Philippines. In Maine in the US, a man tried to launch a firework from the top of his head and was killed. AP
CALAIS, Maine, United States — A young man who was drinking and celebrating the Fourth of July holiday tried to launch a firework off the top of his head and fatally injures himself, authorities said Sunday.
Devon Staples and his friends had been drinking and setting off fireworks Saturday night in the backyard of a friend’s home in the small eastern Maine city of Calais, said Stephen McCausland, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety.
Staples, 22, of Calais, placed a fireworks mortar tube on his head and set it off, he said.
The firework exploded, killing Staples instantly, McCausland said.
His death is the first fireworks fatality in Maine since the state legalized fireworks on Jan. 1, 2012, authorities said.
Calais is on the Canadian border near New Brunswick.
In 2011, lawmakers voted to repeal a 1949 law banning fireworks, reasoning the industry would create jobs and generate additional revenue.