The prefecture has issued an order to prohibit the use of firecrackers during the end-of-year celebrations. However, it is still possible to obtain it. In recent hours, three people have been injured using these firecrackers. Marvin, 21, had to have surgery. He tells.
Audrey Virassamy/ Jean-Marc d'Abreu/ Jonathan Lario
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Published on December 30, 2024 at 6:39 p.m.,
updated December 30, 2024 at 6:40 p.m.
For some it is part of the tradition, for others it is an unbearable nuisance. The use of firecrackers during the end-of-year celebrations is usual in Guyana and yet the sale and use of fireworks and mortars are currently prohibited. Objective: to limit nuisance and above all to avoid accidents. However, in the last 24 hours, three people have been hospitalized following the use of firecrackers.
Marvin, 21, had to undergo emergency surgery. We met him as he was leaving the operating room. A little groggy, the young man had difficulty understanding what could have happened: “I don't really know what happened; it happened so quickly…” He was inside his house when the tragedy occurred. “I had a firecracker in my pocket and I wanted to take it out. When I took it out, it was like there was friction and it exploded.”
Clarification: the firecracker that Marvin had is a bit special. “It's not a firecracker with a fuse. It comes from Brazil and it works like a match.”
Wounded, the young man rushed out of his house. “I went out and shouted so that we could call the firefighters. I went to the block, they told me that they did their best and there, I'm waiting to be told what's going on. It passed with my hand. My hand was shredded, completely exploded. I wouldn't have thought that the firecracker could have lit like that, without a heat source…”
Marvin's testimony and the rules on the sale of firecrackers can be found this Monday evening during the television news.
Reporting by Jean-Marc D'abreu / Jonathan Lario/ Nicolas Godfroy
