New Year’s fireworks in Manila turn fatal
At least one person dead, 380 hurt in Philippines slum
MANILA, PHILIPPINES— New Year’s fireworks left at least one man dead and 380 others injured, and caused a fire that gutted1,000 shanties in the Philippines despite rain and a government warning campaign, officials said Friday.
A drunken man in Manila lit a dynamite-like firecracker called “Goodbye Philippines” and embraced it as it exploded, ripping his jaw and killing him, Health Secretary Janet Garin announced.
Fire officials said a rocket lit by revellers set an abandoned hut ablaze, sparking a fire that razed about 1,000 shanties in Manila’s Tondo slum district and displacing several thousand families.
Many superstitious Filipinos usher in the new year with powerful fireworks, believing that noisy celebrations — largely influenced by Chinese tradition — drive away bad luck and evil.
Garin said the number of injured, while still alarming, was less than half of last year’s toll because of rain late Thursday and a government scare campaign that involved showing gory pictures of past victims with their fingers ripped off by fireworks blasts. The government has promoted fireworks shows sponsored by shopping centres, cities and even TV networks to discourage people from lighting their own fireworks.
A large religious group, Iglesia ni Cristo, said it set off more than 700,000 pyrotechnic devices to try to break a Guinness record for the largest fireworks display.
Tens of thousands of church mem- bers and other revellers watched the spectacle in Bocaue town in Bulacan province, north of Manila.
While illegal large pyrotechnics caused deaths and serious injuries, smaller ones allowed by law also caused injuries, especially among children, Garin said at a news conference.
“What’s really better is a total ban on all firecrackers,” she said.