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29 March 2024

Italy New Year celebrations: 2 dead, over 100 hurt

Published
By AFP

A 31-year-old man died during New Year's celebrations in Italy when a firecracker exploded and blew up his home, while another was killed by a ricocheting bullet, Italian media reported on Sunday.

In Casandrino, near the southern city of Naples, 39-year old Marco D'Apice was killed after he was hit in the mouth by a stray bullet as people fired guns into the air during the celebrations, the reports said.

In Rome, fire-fighters struggled to put out the blaze which destroyed an apartment after a man lit a firecracker which set off a large collection of fireworks, killing him and wounding several others, including four children.

Police had seized 30 kilos of illegal fireworks from the building just days earlier as part of a nation-wide crack-down on the deadly devices which injure hundreds of people each year, particularly in the southern city of Naples.

Despite a ban on firecrackers in Italy's main cities and thousands of towns across the country, over 100 people were injured, including a 14-year-old boy in Palermo, Sicily, who lost the fingers on one hand and risks losing an eye.

Thousands of people took to the streets across Italy to see in the New Year. In Rome, 300,000 party goers celebrated at a live music show, while 70,000 partied in St Mark's Square in Venice and 100,000 revelled in Naples.