Plastic surgeons treated 93 people for serious fireworks injuries around New Year, a sharp rise on last year’s total of 62, the Dutch plastic surgeons’ association said at the weekend.

The association said many of the injuries were severe and involved young victims, with serious injuries often caused by illegal fireworks. At least 12 people lost a hand.

Surgeons also treated numerous finger amputations, fractures and tendon damage, frequently combined with burns and serious facial injuries. About 75% of patients required surgery.

In almost all cases, the injured person had set off the fireworks themselves, with only 10 patients identified as bystanders. Roughly three-quarters of the injuries were linked to illegal fireworks and more than two-thirds of the 93 patients were aged 18 or younger, the association said.

Rotterdam’s eye hospital also reported an unusually high number of minors with fireworks-related injuries.

About 85% of its patients were under 18, compared with around half in previous years. The youngest patient treated was five years old. Almost all of the eye injuries involved bystanders.

This was the last New Year in which consumers could buy legal, more powerful fireworks and a ban on letting of fireworks had already been imposed in 20 towns and cities, including Amsterdam.

Nevertheless, the ban was widely ignored everywhere it was in force.

The number of cars and homes catching fire during this year’s New Year festivities also far outstripped last year’s figures, according to the public safety institute NIPV.

This year the emergency services were called out to 361 car and 228 home fires, compared with 270 and 144 respectively in 2025.