Ten men and one boy sustained eye injuries during the year’s New Year celebration

A total of eleven people received eye injuries from New Year’s fireworks during this year’s celebration. The injured are ten men and one boy.

“This is five fewer injuries than last year,” says Nils Bull, chief medical officer at the eye department at Haukeland University Hospital.

On New Year’s Day, every year Bull collects figures from hospitals across the country for people treated with eye injuries after the New Year celebration.

– “Four of the eleven are seriously injured. That is, one can expect a significant reduction in vision. The other seven have moderate eye damage. None of those injured report wearing safety glasses when the accident happened,” Bull said.

A ten-year-old boy experienced a rocket exploding right in front of his face, avoiding serious eye damage because he was wearing goggles. He is not included in this year’s injury statistics.

Two of the injured were onlookers. One of the injured, according to Bull, probably participated in a fireworks match.

“All the serious eye injuries and four of the moderately severe ones occurred when using power batteries,” says Bull.

“One battery exploded immediately when the fuse was lit, one exploded during cleanup an hour after apparently a successful use, two overturned, one leaned over the battery by ignition and one returned when the rocket failed to fly out after first ignition,” Bull says.

For three of the injuries, there was no information about the type of fireworks.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today