Erfurt (dpa/th) – New Year’s Eve gave the police and fire brigades in Thuringia a lot of work. The state operations center announced on Sunday that 88 fires in connection with fireworks alone had been recorded until the early hours of New Year’s Day. About 60 violations in the use of pyrotechnics and 36 damage to property by New Year’s Eve firecrackers were reported.
In addition, the police registered almost 50 cases of physical injury, often in connection with a high alcohol level. In Erfurt, for example, knives and a blank pistol were used in individual cases.
In Friemar (Gotha district), a 42-year-old was so seriously injured when handling firecrackers ordered from the Internet that both forearms had to be amputated, a police spokesman said early Sunday morning. In Schleiz-Crispendorf (Saale-Orla district), a 21-year-old lost his hand in an accident involving an explosive device. The illegal ball bomb exploded as soon as it was ignited, the spokesman said. Despite the serious injuries, the men are not in mortal danger.
