MANILA - Five people were killed and more than 200 injured in various accidents as the Philippines welcomed 2010 with the usual rowdy New Year's Eve celebrations, police said Friday.
The fatalities included a mother and her 5-year-old son who died in a fire that engulfed a pyrotechnic store in Gingoog City in Misamis Oriental province, 795 kilometers south of Manila.
Chief Superintendent Danilo Empedrad, a regional police director, said the accident occurred late Thursday when a test-fired rocket hit a stock of firecrackers, triggering explosions and the fire.
"Five-year-old Juros Guibone was sleeping inside the store when it happened," he said. "His mother, Jocelyn, tried to rescue her son but both of them were trapped inside." One person died in a fire that razed 25 stalls selling firecrackers in Munoz City in the northern province of Nueva Ecija on Thursday, police said.
Investigators were still determining the cause of the incident, but some witnesses told police that the fire broke out when a lighted cigarette was thrown near the stalls.
In Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, two teenagers died when a a hanging bridge collapsed while they were standing on it watching fireworks just 20 minutes before the turn of the year.
Five people were also injured in the accident, police Chief Superintendent Angelo Sunglao said.
In Manila, at least 268 people were hurt and rushed to hospitals after suffering various firecracker-related injuries, said Superintendent Rommel Miranda, a police spokesman.
Miranda said there were also 11 cases of stray bullet injuries caused by indiscriminate firing of guns in the air during New Year's Eve.
Filipinos traditionally explode firecrackers and make a lot of noise on New Year's Eve in the belief that they will drive away the bad luck of the past year and attract good luck in the coming year.
