Firework Impales Man's Chest
A Minnesota man is in critical condition after an undetonated firework got lodged into his chest.
Nick Beheng, 31, was shooting off fireworks with some of his friends on Saturday when one of the rounds fired and impaled his chest. He was rushed to Regions Hospital where surgeons had to call the bomb squad, KARE reported.
When the bomb technicians arrived they supervised the removal of the firework and then properly disposed of the device.
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Police indicated that the round, a 1.4S special effects firework, could have go off at any time during the procedure and everyone involved was lucky no one else was injured, given the powerful nature of the explosive.
"It was a pretty significant round," Sgt. John Adamek of the St. Paul bomb squad, told Twincities.com. "Those (aerial fireworks) are very powerful."
Police told local media that Beheng used a mortar tube to place the fireworks in rather than digging a hole in the ground to put the mortar tube in, which professionals suggest to do. He then held the tube at arms distance pointed it up in the air.
When he lit the fuse, which fires a series of colorful explosives into the air, the first round was shot safely from the tube, but the second round was discharged from the back of the tube and wound up in the man's chest.
"What happens is you get people buying these things with no formal training on how to use them, and they start playing around and not necessarily following the directions and they get hurt," Adamek said.
"Then add alcohol to it, and it just makes it even worse."
The particular firework that was fired is illegal in Minnesota and authorities recommend that fireworks are handled by properly trained professionals, according to Nyle Zikmund, chief of the Spring Lake Park-Blaine-Mounds View fire department.
