Girl killed by firework in Taitung County

[SU8ZER0]

Girl killed by firework in Taitung County

CNA
February 5, 2014, 12:14 am TWN

A rocket firework lies on the ground. An 8-year-old girl from Taitung County was killed by this specific type of firework over the Lunar New Year holidays. The firework does not have a label indicating its brand and origin. People using fireworks should only use them in accordance with the instructions printed on the merchandise. (CNA)

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- An 8-year-old girl in Taitung County, southeastern Taiwan, died Monday after being hit in the throat by a firework while playing with her siblings and neighborhood children.

The girl died at Taitung Hospital after being rushed there suffering from massive bleeding when the rocket speared her throat, according to rescue personnel.

The girl's death was attributed to suffocation by the paramedics, although there was no official report from the hospital.

One of the teenagers involved in the accident said they inserted the rocket into a beer bottle in the middle of the road before igniting it. Unexpectedly, the rocket did not fly up but flew parallel to the road before hitting the girl, who was standing five to six meters away, the boy said.

During a police investigation, the teenager said that he launched the rocket.

The top-heavy rocket on a stick could easily fall while being launched from a bottle on the ground, police said.

In related news, a fire broke out at an ironworks in Taichung, central Taiwan Tuesday, when the owner and workers of the factory burned ghost money in a traditional commencement ceremony after Lunar New Year's Day, which fell on Jan. 31 this year.

The blaze spread to a neighboring factory, but no casualties were reported.

 

[KangTao]

Thu, Feb 06, 2014

Uncle admits responsibility for girl’s death: police

By Rich Chang / Staff reporter

Greater Taitung police yesterday said that the uncle of a seven-year-old girl was responsible for the girl’s death on Monday night after the man set off a large bottle rocket firework, which hit the girl in the throat and killed her.

The girl, surnamed Yang (楊), was watching her uncle set off the fireworks near her house along with four of her siblings and teenage neighbors before one of the rockets, named an Apple Rocket, went sideways, instead of into the air. She was standing 5m or 6m away from where the rocket was launched, police said.

Taitung police said they initially suspected a teenager had set off the firework.

However, Yang’s uncle later said he was responsible, they said.

The 38-year-old man told police he placed the rocket in an empty beer bottle and lit the fuse with a cigarette, but the beer bottle toppled as the rocket went off.

Police said the man would likely be charged with manslaughter.

Police said the Yang family lived in New Taipei City (新北市), and they returned to their hometown in Taitung County during the Lunar New Year holiday.

When the girl was hit by the firework, the girl’s aunt and neighbors tried to staunch the heavy bleeding before the child was taken to a surgical clinic, police said.

She was transferred to Taitung Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 10pm, they said.

Police said that an autopsy had found there were blood clots blocking the girl’s trachea and that she died from suffocation.