Fireworks injury diagram by Liang Zhenming
According to our newspaper, yesterday Mr Zhang from Zhajia Men in Yuhang District of Hangzhou was especially happy because his beloved daughter had just turned one year old. Turning one is a celebration-worthy event.
Early in the morning, the Zhang family started bustling around. According to rural customs, such joyous events are never complete without fireworks for celebrations, and Mr Zhang also remembered this point.
At about 8:00 AM, Mr Zhang moved the bought firecrackers to the front door, arranged them in a line, among which there was an important heavy-weight firework cannon. "This kind of firework shoots high into the sky with a particularly loud sound, it's festive, so I bought a few."
After looking around, Mr Zhang started lighting the fire, the first one lit was that heavy-weight firework. Instantly, one after another firework bullets shot up into the clouds from the firework tube, exploding with deafening sounds in mid-air.
It was at this moment that suddenly someone shouted: "It's not good! Someone has been hit! Someone has been hit!..."
Mr Zhang, who was just hiding on the side covering his ears, discovered that the firework on the ground had somehow toppled over, shooting directly towards Mr Lao Zhan's shop on the first floor. In the smoke, Mr Lao Zhan was helping his blood-covered wife Ms Zhou escape outside.
Only at this point did Mr Zhang realize he had caused trouble! "I quickly drove and sent Mr Lao Zhan and his wife to the emergency rescue at the Provincial People's Hospital," said Mr Zhang.
Yesterday afternoon, our reporter found Mr Lao Zhan and his wife at the Ophthalmology Department of Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital. Ms Zhou's left eye had already been bandaged, and her white round-necked shirt was spattered with blood.
Mr Lao Zhan said they were from Jiangxi Province, and two months ago they rented a first-floor room from Mr Zhang to open a snack shop. The rent was 850 yuan per month, and at the time of the incident, they were both in the store.
"That firework was probably 70 centimeters tall. When I saw it, I was scared, so I specifically went to close the door facing the outside, but I didn't expect the firecracker to penetrate through the door and explode right on my left face. I went black in the eyes and fell down." Fortunately, after timely treatment, Ms Zhou's eyes were fine.
The on-duty doctor said that Ms Zhou was really lucky as her eyeball was not injured. They helped clean the mud and sand from her eye socket, but her right eardrum was somewhat ruptured, and her face and neck had quite a few scattered burns.
Landlord Mr Zhang was running up and down in the hospital, helping Ms Zhou register and pick up medicine. He expressed that he would take full responsibility.
Our newspaper reporter Li Yangyang and our newspaper correspondent Yin Bingyan