Chronicle
In St. Johann am Steinfelde, a cadastral municipality of Ternitz (district of Neunkirchen), an 18-year-old was fatally injured when a firecracker exploded on New Year’s Eve. According to the police, he must have bent over a firecracker.
The scene of the accident was a field around midnight, according to a police spokesman. Several young people shot pyrotechnics there. According to the police, around 50 centimeters long plastic tubes were placed. The exact course of the accident was initially unclear. The crime scene was cordoned off and the Lower Austria State Criminal Police Office took over the investigation.
The accident prompted a large rescue operation. According to the police, two young people were slightly injured, two girls suffered a shock. A resident reported to the Austria Press Agency (APA) of a large “consistency of people”: “Everything was full of emergency vehicles.”
Two more pyrotechnic accidents
In addition to the incident in the Neunkirchen district, there were two other pyro accidents with severe consequences in Lower Austria on New Year’s Eve. In Lichtenau (Krems district), a 16-year-old was seriously injured in a firecracker explosion. The state of health of the youth who was flown to the hospital was described by the police as critical.
In Kollmitzberg, a cadastral municipality of Ardagger (Amstetten district), a 19-year-old had several fingers torn off by a firecracker. In addition, some other people suffered blast trauma from this explosion.
According to the police, several fires were recorded in Lower Austria on New Year’s Eve. A shell and a carport were on fire in the state.
Remembering the deadly New Year’s Eve last year
There had already been a fatal firecracker accident in Lower Austria last year. At that time, a 23-year-old died near Klausen-Leopoldsdorf (Baden district). At the time, Notruf NÖ had spoken of the “worst New Year’s balance sheet in years” – more on that in 17 fireworks accidents: dead and injured (noe.ORF.at; January 1, 2022). There is still no final balance for this year’s New Year’s Eve.
