A New Year’s Eve fireworks explosion in a Honolulu-area neighborhood killed at the least three folks and critically injured at the least 20 others, authorities mentioned.
“It appeared like a struggle zone,” mentioned Honolulu Fire Chief Sheldon Ok. Hao.
The accident occurred simply earlier than midnight exterior a house, the Honolulu Fire Department mentioned in an announcement. The neighborhood is close to Honolulu’s worldwide airport and a joint U.S. Air Force and Navy base and a little bit greater than 2 miles east of the united statesS. Arizona Memorial, which honors sailors who died within the assault on Pearl Harbor that drew the U.S. into World War II.
Two folks had been declared lifeless on the scene, and the opposite victims had been transported to hospitals, based on Honolulu Emergency Medical Services.
Marco Garcia / AP
“I’ve been in EMS over 30 years and that is in all probability one of many worst calls I’ve ever been on so far as the immense tragedy and quantity of sufferers and severity of the accidents,” Honolulu Emergency Services Department Director Dr. Jim Ireland mentioned in a information convention early Wednesday.
An announcement from Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi put the dying toll at three and mentioned greater than 20 folks had been critically injured.
“This incident is a painful reminder of the hazard of unlawful fireworks, which put lives in danger, drain our first responder sources, and disrupt our communities,” Blangiardi mentioned.
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green mentioned a number of youngsters below the age of 10 had been amongst these severely injured. He in contrast the pressure of the explosion to a bomb.
“It was fireworks, however they had been put collectively in a method that they had been so explosive they took the desk down, apparently, after which rocketed these fireworks into different caches of fireworks,” he mentioned.
At the information convention, Honolulu Police Chief Joe Logan described the chain of occasions that led to the blast.
“It seems that shortly after midnight, an individual who attended the get together lit an aerial cake, which is a container containing a number of aerial fireworks, within the driveway,” he mentioned. “The cake fell to the facet and the aerial shot into crates that contained extra fireworks,” setting off the explosion.
The fireplace division mentioned it was investigating the reason for the blast, and mentioned there was no fireplace on the residence. The victims weren’t instantly recognized.
Several social media posts in a single day confirmed video of residence fireworks being set off over a large swath of town. Officials reported 4 different severe fireworks accidents unrelated to the blast.
