FIREWORKS 14 JULY. In Cholet in Maine-et-Loire, a drama tarnished the evening of July 14: a 7-year-old boy and his 24-year-old sister died following a “shooting incident” in the “premières minutes” of the fireworks, which also injured 7 people, one of them seriously.
[Mis à jour le 15 juillet 2022 à 19h33] During the National Day festivities in Cholet in Maine-et-Loire, a shooting accident during the July 14 fireworks display killed a 7-year-old child and his 24-year-old sister. A man in his thirties, seriously injured, was hospitalized in absolute emergency, and 6 other people, including the parents of the young victims, were slightly injured. “It is the first time” that such a tragedy would have occurred on July 14 in Cholet according to the mayor of the city Gilles Bourdouleix, “It is a terrible tragedy”, he commented to our colleagues from 20 Minutes. More than fifty firefighters would have gone on the spot, while the fireworks had been brought to an end.
In what circumstances did the fireworks of July 14 take place in Cholet?
Regarding the circumstances of this fatal accident which occurred in Cholet during the July 14 fireworks which killed two people, a 7-year-old child and his 24-year-old sister, the prosecutor referred to a “shooting incident” while an investigation was opened for manslaughter. “It was screaming everywhere, it was a bit of a panic”, testified Laurent Picard, a spectator of the fireworks who attended the accident, of which he published some video images on Facebook. “I was 5/6 meters from the explosion with my two daughters, I received sparks and felt the heat of the blast,” he told 20 Minutes.
“We were sincerely much too close to the launch pad”, testified Mickaël this Friday on France Info. “The safety zone was the football field and the fence which was 10-15 meters away. There were even people glued to the fence.” Then, the tragedy occurred: “Two or three rockets which did not take off, which did not go up high (…) exploded on the football field where the fire was”. According to the witness, “there was a start of fire on one of the firework boxes (…) A few seconds later, one of the fireworks went horizontally, crossed the gate of the field and exploded at 15 -20 meters from us, in the middle of people. We were right next to it”.
What images of the fireworks of July 14, 2022 in Paris?
In the capital, the pyrotechnic show was one of the most anticipated of this Thursday, July 14, 2022, fired from the Eiffel Tower at 11 p.m. The fireworks given in Paris on the theme “Carpe Diem” lasting 20 minutes went off without a hitch. Thousands of people attended the show on the Champ-de-Mars and all around the Eiffel Tower, on the bridges of Paris or in height, from the park of Saint-Cloud or Belleville. Discover the pyrotechnic show in pictures:
Which fireworks have been canceled in France?
Other cities in France were able to fire their July 14 fireworks like Bordeaux, Marseille, Lyon, Strasbourg or Toulouse. Towns in the departments of Gard, Bouches-du-Rhône or Vendée, on the other hand, had to cancel their program due to the risk of fire linked to the heat wave. The municipalities of Arles, Nîmes, Aubagne, Gardanne, Allauch, Meyreuil, Carry le Rouet, Tarascon, Plan de Cuques, Fuveau, Charleval, Allauch were concerned…