6 ’cracker injuries reported in W. Visayas since Dec. 21 – DOH

ILOILO CITY – Six firecracker blast injuries have been reported in Western Visayas since Dec. 21 including three on Christmas Eve, according to the Department of Health (DOH).

Four of the cases were eye injuries while two were blast injuries in the hands, according to Dr. May Ann Sta. Lucia, regional coordinator of the DOH’s Violence and Injury Prevention Program.

The number of cases is lower compared to the same period in previous years.

The monitoring period will end of Jan. 25.

The victims, all males, were from six years old to 22 years old.

Sta. Lucia said five of the injuries were caused by “buga” (improvised blasting device) while the other was caused by a “roman candle.”

Of the six cases, three were reported in Negros Occidental, two in Iloilo and one in Capiz.

The DOH is urging the holding of community or public fireworks display and discouraging individual possession and residential use of firecrackers as a measure to reduce if not eliminate firecracker blast injuries and other accidents.

The DOH will announce the local government units with the highest number of firecracker blast injuries, according to Sta. Lucia.

Christmas celebration in the region was also peaceful with no reported crimes from December 24 to noon of Christmas Day reaching the Police Regional Office 6 in Iloilo City.

The Bureau of Fire Protection in Western Visayas reported four separate fire incidents in the region involving residential units. No casualties were reported.

A fire gutted a house in Barangay Dinginan Roxas City in Capiz at 8:14 p.m. on Christmas Eve.

Earlier on Saturday, two separate fires damaged a house in Barangay Hipona in Pontevedra town in Capiz and in Barangay Sentro Sur in Pandan town in Antique.

In the capital town of San Jose in Antique, a fire gutted a house in Barangay San Fernando past midnight of Sunday. The cause of the fire is still being investigated.