The dead are a 7-year-old boy and a 24-year-old girl, whose parents were injured by the uncontrolled explosion of a rocket on the July 14 festival in Cholet.
Two brothers, one of whom was a minor, died and seven other people were injured, one seriously, when they attended a fireworks display in the French commune of Cholet, in western France, on July 14 last night. The 7-year-old boy and his sister, 24, watched the fireworks that normally end the celebration of France’s national day with other members of their family.
The family was “about fifty meters from the launch pad” when the accident occurred, prosecutor Éric Bouillard explained to the local press. Seven other people were injured in the accident, including the parents of the two fatalities, who were hospitalized. A man in his thirties is in serious condition.
“It’s a terrible drama,” Cholet Mayor Gilles Bourdouleix said after the tragic incident. The mayor confirmed to the radio station France Info that “a rocket exploded in the midst of the people”. Bourdouleix explained that the security team advised people in the vicinity of the accident site to move away, although there was initially no danger.
The mayor indicated that the municipality has been working with the same fireworks company for “years” and that “it is the first time” that such a drama has played out at the July 14 celebrations in Cholet. The Public Prosecution Service has launched an investigation into involuntary manslaughter to determine the causes of the accident and to determine whether the victims should have been denied access to the place where the accident took place.
