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One dead, 270 injured in China fireworks frenzy
2007-02-18
One person was killed and 270 others injured in China's capital as millions of fireworks were set off to celebrate the Lunar New Year, state press reported. Although deaths and injuries are often linked to the traditional pyrotechnics, the problems were magnified in Beijing this year as a flood of unsafe, illegal fireworks hit the market. "The city saw a sharp influx of substandard firecrackers despite supervision efforts," a police statement said, according to the Xinhua news agency. Xinhua said a 25-year-old man died of head injuries in hospital on Sunday, the official start of the Year of the Pig, after setting off fireworks the previous night. Of the 270 injured, two men lost an eyeball, according to Xinhua. A 12-year ban on fireworks in Beijing was lifted in 2006 after authorities said they were satisfied that safety standards had improved. However city authorities seized 560 million substandard firecrackers this year, more than four times the amount confiscated in 2006, according to Xinhua. A total of 380,000 boxes of fireworks were sold legally through government-appointed venues throughout Beijing in the past year, compared with 240,000 in 2006, Xinhua said. For centuries, fireworks have been an integral part of Lunar New Year festivities as Chinese have sought to scare away angry ghosts, welcome good fortune and simply have fun.
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