Firecracker goes through car door, kills passenger

Daqing Evening News
February 11, 2009

For doubts raised about this story, see our follow-up.

This year's Spring Festival has been plagued by firework accidents. Crowning them all, of course, is yesterday's fire at CCTV's massive under-construction tower which killed a firefighter and wounded several others.

Today's Daqing Evening News, a Heilongjiang newspaper, reported another bizarre accident that happened on February 9, the Chinese traditional Lantern Festival: a firecracker, probably set off by a nearby restaurant blasted through the door of a passing car and exploded in a passenger's stomach, causing his death.

According to the hospital, the deceased was 42 years old. When the accident happened, he was sitting right back of the driver's seat and was very close to the door. When the car drove past the Yuanwang cross road, a cracker shot at the car, penetrating the steel plate of the door and entering the man's body. The cracker ended up blasting a big hole into the man's stomach, damaging the man's spleen and killing him instantly.
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How could a firework penetrate a car door and kill a passenger? This shocked everyone who witnessed the scene. What kind of firecracker is powerful enough to cut through a steel car door?

"This is no firework, it is a bomb" one bystander said.

With these questions, your corespondent went to a firework store, and bought several different kinds of fireworks. There was one type of cracker which was about 10 cm long and 5 cm in diameter that looks very scary.

The product instructions say that when the firecracker should be set off at least 50 meters away from people and buildings. But the fuse is only 5 cm long, so how can any one retreat 50 meters after they ignite the cracker?