A rocket exploded in the audience during the pyrotechnic show /
The fatalities are a 7-year-old boy and a 24-year-old girl, whose parents were injured by the uncontrolled explosion of a rocket at the July 14 party in Cholet
Two brothers, one of them a minor, died and seven other people were injured, one of them seriously, when they attended a fireworks show on July 14 last night in the French municipality of Cholet, in western France. The 7-year-old boy and his sister, 24, were watching with other members of their family the fireworks that usually end the celebrations of the national holiday in France.
The family was “about fifty meters from the launch pad” when the accident occurred, prosecutor Éric Bouillard explained to the local press. Seven other people were injured in the accident, including the parents of the two fatalities, who have been hospitalized. A man in his 30s is in serious condition.
VIDEO: People run after fireworks celebrating Bastille Day shoot into a crowd in Cholet, France.
A 7-year-old boy and his 24-year-old sister were killed during the event at Cholet (Maine-et-Loire), the Angers public prosecutor said pic.twitter.com/vU3ROciRGh
AFP News Agency (@AFP) July 15, 2022
“It’s a terrible drama,” said the mayor of Cholet, Gilles Bourdouleix, after the tragic incident. The mayor confirmed to the France Info radio station that “a rocket exploded in the middle of the people.” Bourdouleix explained that the security team advised people who were near the accident site to move away, although initially there was no danger.
The mayor specified that the municipality has been working “for years” with the same fireworks company and that “it is the first time” that a drama of this type takes place in the celebrations of July 14 in Cholet. The Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation for involuntary manslaughter to determine the causes of the accident and determine whether the victims should have been prevented from having access to the place where the accident occurred.