The City of Cape Town announced that they will engage with National Government with a formal request to ban the sale of fireworks The Guy Fawkes festivities which took place on Saturday within the city resulted in the highest numbers of injuries.
Just under 30 000 residents visited the safety sites for setting off fireworks, where Table View and Maiden’s Cove were the busiest sites between 10 000 to 15 000 estimated revellers respectively. As a result, the two sites were also accounted for the highest number of injuries.
The City’s Fire and Rescue Services recorded 32 injuries, with the most severe in Table View, where a 14 year old boy lost part of his three fingers on his left hand while handling an exploding fireworks device. He was treated by medical staff on scene and later transferred to hospital for further treatment.
City’s Mayoral Committee for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith believes that the City did everything they possibly could to ensure the evening was well managed.
“The injuries reported were unfortunate, especially with the number being higher than previous years. Fireworks are extremely dangerous and should be handled with care,” Smith adds.
Smith feels that Guy Fawkes is a massive safety hazard that the City can certainly do without. Given the on-going complaints from the public, the City hopes that National Government would consider banning the sale of fireworks. VOC (Loushe Jordaan)
