Irish man left blind in one eye after ‘dud’ firework suddenly detonated

With Halloween nearing, there have been various online reports across the country of fireworks being set off in Irish towns and villages. That is, despite fireworks being strictly illegal in Ireland.

Gardaí [police] are ramping up patrols and checkpoints in the lead-up to October 31 as they target illegal fireworks and anti-social behavior.

Fireworks can be very dangerous, and annually, there are reports of long-term physical injuries to those who use the items.

One such person is Joshua, who is blind in one eye due to a firework malfunction.

Speaking on "Liveline" on Tuesday, Joshua detailed how he later came to the belief that the firework had a crack in it, leading it to not work the correct way.

"When we lit the firework, it shot up into the sky, but there was no explosion," Joshua told RTÉ Radio 1’s Kieran Cuddihy.

"Sometime later, we had gone over. We were kind of in the process of cleaning up and the top of the firework was just on the grass, and it unfortunately just randomly detonated, and shrapnel from the firework traveled through my right eye directly to the very back, the retina, and damaged the retina."

Joshua added that the horror incident resulted in him becoming blind in one eye.

Joshua’s brother Ewan was beside him when the firework belatedly detonated and sustained his own harrowing injuries.

"Three of us were in the field," Ewan shared.

"I was the one that got closest to it because I had the light, and once it went off, because I was actually reaching for it, as weird as it sounds.

"That’s when the firework actually detonated. The part of the casing that went into Joshua’s eye also melted into my hand and my face, melted through our clothes.

"It was a mess."

Ewan explained that the firework was "about the size of your fist."

The segment heard how Joshua initially didn’t feel the pain from his injury due to adrenaline, but the same wasn’t the case for Ewan.

"I was the exact opposite,’ Ewan said. ‘It was just this intense, searing burn. It’s very, very difficult to describe it because I hope that’s the one and only time I’ll ever experience something like that. It was just — it took over my whole body.

"Joshua was quiet and very calm; just in shock nearly and I was roaring and shouting. There was blood everywhere.

"It was very, very traumatic."

* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.