A 33-year-old man was fatally injured on Saturday evening when a naval flare detonated on him.
The victim, along with two of his friends, were celebrating the end of carnival on a pedestrian way in the eastern Crete city of Aghios Nikolaos when the tragic accident occurred.
According to reports, the trio of friends had previously set off roughly 20 such flares, however, the last one set off as part of a makeshift fireworks show hit the man in the abdominal area.
He was immediately transported to a nearby hospital but succumbed to uncontrolled hemorrhaging.
The other two men were arrested for illegal possession and detonation of the highly incendiary naval flares.
The incident wasn’t the first time that use of such flares in the country for purposes other than its intended use has proved deadly.
A riot police officer who sustained severe injuries from a naval flare that hit him in the thigh during clashes with hooligans last Dec. 7, outside an indoor arena in the near-Piraeus Renti district, passed away some three weeks later. The 31-year-old officer had been hospitalized and intubated in an ICU since the incident.
Two arrests were made in that incident, including a teenager accused of directly firing the flare at the victim.
