Two people die and more than 20 are injured after a fireworks accident during New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Children are believed to be among those killed or injured in the disaster on Keaka Drive in Salt Lake, also known as Aliamanu, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
“Major incident in Salt Lake area HPD, HFD and EMS are responding to a major incident in the area of Keaka Drive,” local police said.
“Please avoid the area as first responders are providing medical and other assistance.”
Honolulu residents Nick Wendrych and Adrian Montecinos filmed the explosion while celebrating on a balcony, unaware of the chaos below.
Their images showed a sudden series of uncontrolled explosions of fireworks exploding at ground level in rapid succession, in contrast to those occurring in the air.
Locals claimed online that the disaster was caused by a fireworks “cake” – a group of tubes that hold the rockets – which fell off from the force of the launch.
This resulted in “fireworks going off directly into a garage full of friends and family, including children.”
“This set off a whole chain reaction with other nearby fireworks getting caught in the crossfire.”
Another local added: The people affected are my neighbors and it was a horrible accident.
“I never thought it would affect me. I was always sure that I would take appropriate precautions to protect myself, for example not having fireworks in my hand to launch until tonight.’
More to come.
Two people die and more than 20 are injured after a fireworks accident during New Year’s Eve celebrations