For 25-year-old Shahrukh Khan, a painter residing in L.R. Nagar in Audugdi, stepping out on Wednesday to go to the mosque to offer Magrib namaaz (in the evening) turned disastrous. A lit rocket came from nowhere and hit his left eye, causing a grievous injury and eventually loss of sight.
He has been admitted at the government-run Minto Ophthalmic Hospital, which received four other cases of cracker-related injuries. All the injured are boys and are aged between seven and 17 years.
Mithun, a seven-year-old, has also been admitted to Minto Hospital for injuries on his face and eyes. He was leaning over a half-burnt ‘flower pot’ when it went off in his face. “I had just lit the flower pot but it did not burn. So I tried to burn it again when it suddenly burst,” he said.
The three others — Bhavesh (10), Manjunath (42) and Pradeep Kumar (14) — who have suffered corneal burns were by-standers.
Narayana Nethralaya has received 11 cases of cracker-related injuries this year while Vijaya Nethralaya and Nethradhama got two patients each who hurt their eyes while lighting crackers. Shankara Eye Hospital received one case of cracker-related eye injury.
K. Bhujang Shetty, Chairman of Narayana Nethralaya, said most of the 11 cases seen at the hospital were mild injuries, like burn on the eyelid or corneal abrasions, which will not result in permanent damage to the eyes. All of them were treated as out-patients. Dr Shetty said the number of cases this year is lesser than those reported last year. “All the cases that we saw this year are children aged below 18. The main problem is that of children burn crackers without adult supervision. Many have a tendency to bend over the crackers or try to repeatedly light malfunctioning firecrackers, which may suddenly burst and cause injury,” he added.
