Children and parents 'run' after fireworks malfunction at school display
A school fireworks display in Wales turned into a scene of chaos when explosives misfired "in different directions", causing people to run in fear.
The incident happened on Monday evening at Derwendeg Primary School's annual event, which has been running smoothly for 20 years. During the £4-entry display, some fireworks exploded close to the crowd, with reports of people and nearby properties being hit.
Headteacher Lynsey Wangiel confirmed that an investigation is now underway and the incident has been reported to the local council Hengoed, Caerphilly. It remains unclear if anyone was injured during the display, but videos show people fleeing the scene, shouting and screaming.
The school's headteacher said an investigation has been launchedSeveral individuals reported being struck in the leg by the stray fireworks, reports Wales Online. In a statement, Mrs Wangiel said: "As many of you will be aware, there were some issues at this evening's fireworks event held at the school resulting in the display being stopped early. Us as a school and our PTA are incredibly upset at this evening's events. Our lovely school has hosted this fireworks event safely for our community for over 20 years.
"Tonight's event was run in the same way as it always has been with the same trained fireworks handler. The event is reported to the council and is fully risk assessed with many safety measures in place including police and trained first aiders on site. There will be a full investigation with the council."
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Millie Gray, who attended the event with her brother Ronnie and best friend Kaylum, shared: "As we were recording, the fireworks unexpectedly came towards us, not just us but a lot of people and little kids too. It was unexpected because the school display has always been good but this year didn't go well, Loads of children were crying and loads of parents were worrying about their kids. The fireworks were going into different directions, they were going into people's gardens, and went into a few cars."
A post on the local Ystrad Mynach Facebook page read: "Gutted to learn of the events at Derwendeg School tonight. We don't have many community events around here and Cefn Hengoed being a small village gets even less than most, overlooked on most things like this and the villagers are very aware of that.
"The display has been organised for decades and local people treasure it, a real community and family get together. The school have issued a statement and will be looking for answers with the council. You would imagine that the community's response will largely dictate the future of the event, so it's a case of being patient and waiting to see if people are satisfied with the response and any future action taken, or hound the school into a position where the event is cancelled forever.
(No credit)"Shocking what happened this evening but there's no disputing that it's organised with the pure intentions of bringing the community together. I know that many people of the village will want that to be out there in people's thoughts, so there it is." Another said: "We've lived here over 24 years and never known or experienced any incidents at the displays, we always attended prior to Covid even though it was across the road."
One more person commented: "An unfortunate event, hope it doesn't prevent any future displays at the school, although sadly we did notice it was packed on the pavements around the perimeter outside and even people parked on the corner and got out of their car and sat on the street sign on the verge to avoid paying."
"The school have always put on a great display for years to raise money for the school. I hope this one-off incident won't predict or affect future events."
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can report any errors to [email protected]
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