ILOILO CITY – The Department of Health-6 has recorded 154 fireworks-related injuries in Western Visayas region.
A STALL selling firecrackers in Iloilo City. (Tara Yap)
The DOH-6 said 39 injuries were recorded in DOH sentinel sites. The remaining 115 was reported in non-sentinel sites between Dec. 21, 2024 and Jan. 2, 2025.
The province of Negros Occidental has the highest number of firecracker-related injuries with 39. The province of Iloilo was second with 36, 23 in Aklan province, 14 in Capiz province, 13 in Bacolod City, 11 in Iloilo City, 11 in Antique province, and seven in Guimaras province.
The DOH-6 said that majority of the cases were blast injuries with 84 or 73 percent of the total injuries.
Twenty-nine injuries were caused by “boga” or homemade cannon.
Most of the victims were 10-years-old or younger.