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In all, 67 people were treated at health care centers in the Argentine capital over the past 24 hours for burns resulting from fireworks or eye injuries caused by popping champagne corks. EFE/File
Buenos Aires, Jan 1 (EFE).- One person died and at least 120 were injured, the majority with burns, in the traditional setting off of fireworks to celebrate the arrival of the new year in the Argentine capital, police and health care authorities reported.
A 65-year-old women choked to death on a piece of food while she was drinking a toast to the new year with her family on the outskirts of Santiago del Estero, some 1,100 km (about 680 mi.) north of Buenos Aires.
In all, 67 people were given medical care in the Argentine capital over the past 24 hours for burns they received while setting off fireworks or eye injuries from popping champagne corks.
At the Buenos Aires Burn Hospital, 24 people - including 16 children - were treated for assorted injuries, including one boy who had lost the tip of a finger when a firecracker exploded in his hand.
Hospital director Miriam Miño recommended that members of the public not use fireworks and, if they decided to take the risk, to ensure that the firecrackers were properly certified and handled, adding that children need to be monitored while setting them off since some of the injuries had been caused when the firecrackers "exploded in their pockets."
Miño also recommended that people go to special first aid sites immediately after an accident occurs since, if they wait to get medical attention, the injury can get worse.
Forty-three other people were treated at the Santa Lucia and Pedro Lagleyze ophthalmological hospitals for eye injuries caused by the improper or reckless use of fireworks and popping champagne corks.
Among those who sought medical attention, "five cases are serious, two of which are surgical cases with a guarded prognosis, one of them being 15 years old and the other 18, with a (punctured) eyeball," said Lagleyze Hospital official Marcelo Oliveri.
In the city of Rosario, about 300 km (186 mi.) west of the capital, 45 people were injured in New Year's celebrations, including 18 people who were wounded by gunfire, 14 who were stabbed and 13 who were injured by fireworks.
In addition, 11 people were injured by fireworks in the northern province of Salta and 5 were hurt in Catamarca.