U.S.A.

-- Truck with fireworks near barge is destroyed.  It happened as the fireworks were being unloaded from a truck to the barge.

The blast involved as many as 200 shells and several hundred pounds of explosives.

Investigators were trying to determine what caused a truck loaded with fireworks to explode during preparations for a New Year's Eve show, killing two technicians and critically injuring an off-duty deputy.   The blast, which happened about 8:30 p.m. Thursday, blew the top and sides off the white cargo truck.   Employees from a New Orleans-area company had been loading fireworks on a barge.   Authorities say a decision had been made to scale back the show, so workers were taking some of the fireworks off the barge and putting them back on the truck.   One man was in the truck and another was just outside it when the explosion took place. ATF agents were examining the truck's skeleton, looking for clues to what caused the blast.  One man was in critical condition with burns over 50 percent of his body.

 

 

New Orleans
Two men were killed
A third badly burned

1998 -- On New Year's Eve 1998 in New Orleans, two men were killed and a third badly burned when an explosion ripped apart a truck transporting fireworks. The men were trained fireworks operators, working for a fireworks Co. of the New Orleans area.

"Still no one knows what caused the explosion," says owner of the Fireworks Co. and chairman of the National Fireworks Association's Public Display Committee. "Five government agencies showed up to investigate the cause, but nothing has been found out."

U.S.A.

Springfield, Va: A tractor-trailer rig hauling 20 tons of fireworks powder overturned, triggering an area evacuation and a major traffic jam in the Washington, D.C. area.

 

U.S.A.

In Peoria, Ariz., left five people injured, one critically, when fireworks detonated while they were being unloaded by a crew of workers.   One woman suffered burns to more than 90 percent of her body.

Las Vegas -- Nevada

-- An accident involving an AMR ambulance, a car and a truck hauling fireworks sets off a chain reaction of explosions.   All three vehicles were completely destroyed.  The ambulance collided with a church van hauling a trailer of fireworks. Two people inside the van sustained injuries and were transported to University Medical Center. The AMR ambulance was responding to an emergency call when it hit the back of the trailer.  Bystanders could see a fireball on the highway and hear what sounded like the repetitive popping of fireworks.