It has been reported that no less than two persons have been killed by fireworks amid new year celebrations in Germany.
According to Daily Sun UK, in the first horrific incident, a 35-year-old man died after igniting fireworks or party guests in a garden in Gusow-Platkow in the Brandenburg region outside Berlin.
Guest desperately tried to save his life, but he died at the scene before midnight.
On the same night, a 19-year-old suffered fatal head injuries after he set off a homemade device in Kleinmachnow, in the same region of Germany.
German police called it a ‘frightening New Year’s Eve’ following the two deaths and have launched criminal investigations into both fatalities.
Officers said both victims had been killed as a result of ‘improper handling’ of fireworks.
Meanwhile, at least five people underwent amputations having suffered shocking injuries after fireworks accidents across the country.
In Berlin, 21 were treated for fireworks-related wounds while there were also reports of fireworks being aimed at police and fire crews.
There are reports that a schoolboy aged just 11 was left with severe eye injuries in Berlin after being hit by a firecracker thrown into a crowd.
A 17-year-old was also left with a burnt hip after being hit at an event in Neuruppin.
But the country avoided a repeat of the mass groping in Cologne in 2016, amid heightened security and efforts to protect women from sexual harassment.
Police in Cologne reported seven cases of sexual harassment, while Berlin police reported 10 and seven arrests as several hundred thousand people celebrated at the city’s Brandenburg Gate.
Police sought to prevent a repeat of New Year 2016 in Cologne, when hundreds of women were groped and robbed, mostly by groups of migrants.
In December of that year it was reported that in total, 1,222 criminal complaints were investigated by the authorities in Cologne, of which 513 involved an accusation of sexual assault.
These included sexual coercion, rape and sexually motivated insults.
The attacks sparked outrage across Germany amid tensions over the arrival in the country of 1.1million refugees in 2015.
For this season’s event, Berlin’s main New Year’s Eve party had a ‘safe space’ for women, staffed by the German Red Cross, at the capital city’s famous Brandenburg Gate.
Women were told to seek help from other revellers if they feel harassed or threatened.
