Three people have already lost an eye due to an incident involving fireworks in the run up to the New Year celebrations, eye doctor Tjeerd de Faber told news agency ANP on Thursday.

By law, fireworks may only be officially bought in the three days before January 1 and only set off on December 31 itself. Only licenced dealers may sell fireworks.
Faber told ANP last year 265 people were taken to hospital with eye injuries during the festivities, and 24 eyes were lost. Most of the victims were aged under 15 and 57% were bystanders, he said.
Eye doctors are calling for a ban on fireworks and are urging parents to buy their children protective glasses.
Meanwhile, ING bank’s economic research arm says people are spending an average €45 each on fireworks this year, the same as in 2008. But 78% of the population don’t spend any money at all on fireworks. In total, ING expects €65m-worth of fireworks to be set off around midnight.