The dangerous tradition of celebrating the New Year with firecrackers and fireworks continues to cause injuries and even victims not only in Italy, but also in other European countries.

The latest, dramatic accident occurred in the Netherlands, where a 12-year-old boy was killed and another seriously injured because of the barrels.

According to an initial reconstruction of the incident, the two children were in the company of an adult, in the small town of Haaksbergen, in the east of the country, near the border with Germany.

The man, despite the prohibition of the local authorities, set off a firecracker and the blast hit the two children. For one, unfortunately, there was nothing to do, the other, however, was rushed to hospital. After the rescue, the man who lit the killer firecracker was arrested.

This is the second year that the Netherlands has banned rudimentary barrels and fireworks to prevent the hospitalization of possibly injured people from causing an increase in the work of health personnel, already struggling with Covid.

Despite the ban, however, explosions are heard frequently these days, in a country where the passion for this dangerous end-of-year tradition is strong - as is the case in Italy.

(Uniononline / lf)