Two patients remain in critical condition and another two are serious due to the burns they sustained from the explosion of several mortars in the fireworks area of La Loma neighborhood, during the start of the Guayos festivities, in the province of Sancti Spíritus, early Saturday morning.
As a result of the incident, six men were injured, who were initially assisted at the local polyclinic and immediately transferred to the Camilo Cienfuegos Provincial General Hospital in the city of Sancti Spíritus for specialized care, according to official sources.
Dr. Tatiana Hernández González, a second-degree specialist in Plastic Surgery and Burn Treatment at that hospital, informed the newspaper Escambray that two of the patients admitted there are in critical condition, two are serious, and one has a less serious prognosis, while a sixth will be treated on an outpatient basis.
“It involves patients with multiple traumas, varying degrees of burns and wounds, who undergo suturing, deep venous access, and other standardized procedures in the treatment of injuries from both local and systemic perspectives,” explained the doctor.
He added that five of the injured are still hospitalized in the burn unit of the hospital, in "isolated cubicles for their care," and assured that the necessary supplies and creams for treatment are available.
The specialist indicated that the individual assessment of each patient involved a multidisciplinary team composed of anesthesiologists, surgeons, specialists and residents in Plastic Surgery and Burn Care, as well as nurses.
After this medical report, no updated information has been released regarding the condition of the injured. So far, the identities of the individuals involved in the accident are unknown; local media has only revealed that one is 50 years old, and the others are between 30 and 40 years old.
The causes of the explosion are being investigated by the Ministry of the Interior.
The traditional parrandas of Guayos, recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, are celebrating their centenary this year. The festivities were originally scheduled for early November, but were postponed despite the discontent of the locals, who had been preparing for them for months as is customary.
Local authorities cited economic, health, and social sensitivity reasons due to the national situation following Hurricane Melissa, which devastated eastern Cuba, "and a very difficult epidemiological situation due to the circulation of several arboviral diseases."
However, many residents of Guayabo deemed the suspension unjustified and interpreted it as yet another sign of the lack of political will to support popular cultural expressions amid the widespread crisis in the country.
It is not the first time that accidents like the one registered this weekend in Guayos have occurred. Earlier this month, an explosion shook the municipality of Camajuaní, in the province of Villa Clara, triggering a large-scale fire at a fireworks storage facility located in the Los Chivos neighborhood.
The incident originated in a house traditionally linked to the production of fireworks for the parrandas of Camajuaní, one of the most emblematic celebrations in that province, and caused damage to seven homes, two of which suffered total loss of property. Fortunately, no one was injured.
In March 2018, two men suffered serious burns that left them in critical condition during a pyrotechnic accident at the Camajuaní celebrations.
In late 2017, a fire in a fireworks warehouse during the parrandas of Remedios, also in Villa Clara, left 39 people injured, eight of whom were in “extremely critical” condition, including three minors.
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