Fireworks strike 13-year-old boy in head, killing him

Sept. 2 (UPI) — A 13-year-old boy in Oklahoma is dead after an apparent firework explosion on Labor Day.

The deadly incident took place Monday at Sandy Park Apartments in West Tulsa near West 11th Place and South 61st West Avenue.

According to witnesses, a group of young boys in the evening hours set off fireworks, including some that set afire a small patch of grass on the south edge of the property.

Police officials say the group were igniting mortar-style fireworks and the victim was “holding the tube with the mortar facing his head when it ignited,” the Tulsa Police Department said in a statement.

Emergency personnel in the Tulsa Fire Department tried to perform life-saving measures on the teen by the time police officers arrived on scene. The unidentified 13-year-old was taken to a local hospital, where he died shortly after.

A 2022 poll of more than 2,000 parents of children ages 3-18 revealed that many American parents fail to take proper precaution to protect kids from firework injuries.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said that U.S. firework-related injuries and deaths had climbed by about 25% over 15 years by 2022.