This Thursday, July 14, a 7-year-old child and his 24-year-old sister died after a fireworks display in Cholet. A man unveiled a video taken shortly before the tragedy.
The party ended in tragedy. In Cholet this Thursday, July 14, a seven-year-old boy and his 24-year-old big sister were killed by fireworks. A 30-year-old from the same family was taken to hospital with injuries. According to the public prosecutor, Eric Bouillard, tense shots hit a group of people located about sixty meters from the firings in the town. The mayor of Cholet, Gilles Bourdouleix, explained that members of the security would have “recommended to people” near the scene of the accident “to get away”. On Facebook, a viewer of the fireworks posted a video of the drama. If everything seems to be going normally at first, a shot landed on the lawn where the inhabitants came to admire it, which quickly caught fire.
“I was 5 or 6 meters from the explosion with my two daughters, I received sparks and felt the heat of the blasthe explained to AFP. Fortunately, where I was placed I served as a kind of shield for my daughters. Is it a rocket that went askew or exploded on the way down? It happened so fast, I can’t say.” Shortly after the explosion, the spectator explains that he saw a man lying on the ground, apparently burned, and a woman to whom rescuers were giving heart massage. “It was screaming everywhere, it was a bit of panic”, he remembers. During a press conference this Friday, July 15, Éric Bouillard explained that “six other people were considered relative victims” including the parents of the two people killed.
No custody at the moment
“They were located in an area of 30 to 50 m from the launch pad. To our knowledge, it was not intended by the pyrotechnicians that people would be in this area. The majority of the public was located 150 m and more from the firing point”, he described according to Ouest-France. According to the first elements of the investigation, there were several rockets that exploded. So far, no one has been taken into custody, and “the artificers have already been heard and all the equipment has been seized for the purposes of the investigation”. After the tragedy, the fireworks continued and several dozen firefighters were dispatched to the scene of the accident.
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Fireworks in Cholet
A 30-year-old from the same family was taken to hospital, injured
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Fireworks in Cholet
On Facebook, a spectator of the fireworks posted a video of the drama
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Fireworks in Cholet
If everything seems to be going normally at first, a shot landed on the lawn where the inhabitants came to admire it which quickly caught fire
© Pexel
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Fireworks in Cholet
“I was 5 or 6 meters from the explosion with my two daughters, I received sparks and felt the heat of the blast, he explained to AFP. Fortunately, where I was placed I kind of shielded my daughters. Was it a rocket that went sideways or exploded on the way down? It happened so fast, I can’t tell.”