A two-year-old girl was injured by a firecracker explosion in the Vitebsk region

January 3, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. Three people, including a young child, were injured by pyrotechnics during the New Year holidays in the Vitebsk region, Marina Fando, press secretary of the regional department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, told a BELTA correspondent. All incidents occurred on January 1. In the village of Oktyabrsky, Vitebsk district, a two-year-old girl was injured by a firecracker explosion. The toddler was hospitalized with a thermal eye injury at the Vitebsk Regional Clinical Hospital. The use of pyrotechnics led to a need for medical assistance for a 19-year-old resident of the village of Shunevtsy, Gluboksky district, who received a knee burn, and a young worker of the Novolukomlskaya GRES, who suffered an abrasion of the upper eyelid. Presumably, a fire broke out on the balcony of a Polotsk resident on the night of January 1 due to a firecracker that flew in. In total, 22 fires were recorded in the region over the past weekend, the main cause of which was smoking while intoxicated. Five people died in the fires: three in the Ushachsky district, one each in the Tolochinsky and Gorodoksky districts. Heavy snowfall and wind accompanying the New Year holidays caused power outages. According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, as of the morning of January 2, 351 settlements, 16 farms, and 540 transformer substations were de-energized in the region. As clarified by RUE "Vitebskenergo", as of 7:00 on January 3, 24 settlements remained de-energized. 28 repair crews consisting of 205 people and 42 units of equipment are involved in restoring power supply. All work is planned to be completed today. At the same time, the elements did not prevent the residents of the Vitebsk region from celebrating the arrival of 2011 with great enthusiasm. More than 50,000 residents of the region took part in mass events on New Year's Eve, including about 15,000 in the regional center. Almost 10,000 Vitebsk residents participated in the festive program "Happy New Year, Beloved City!" on Victory Square. For law enforcement officers, the New Year holidays were marked by an absence of crimes, with the exception of a few minor acts of hooliganism in the Vitebsk and Braslav districts due to excessive alcohol consumption, noted the information and public relations department of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee.-0-