Official detonation

Super fireworks weighing 637 kilos are not allowed to be admired

Explosives expert Markus Kreilmeier led the pyro plan squares in Upper Austria

(Bild: Gantner Christoph)

The police checked around 3000 vehicles on the Czech-Upper Austrian border over just eight days and seized an explosive equivalent to around 39 kilos of TNT. The parents of the 11 and 13 year old firecracker boys who set off the explosives in Traun will be charged.

Half of the illegal pyrotechnics confiscated at borders nationwide before New Year's Eve were discovered in Upper Austria, where cars coming from the Czech Republic were searched for eight days. In the Mühlviertel region, investigators who checked 2954 cars found 637 kilos of banned firecrackers and rockets, compared to 1300 kilos nationwide.

A smorgasbord of firecrackers
The 387 packages filled with rockets, box fireworks or firecrackers contained 127 kilos of pure explosives, equivalent to 38.3 kilos of TNT. But nobody will be happy about the confiscated rockets, they will be officially destroyed - blown up or incinerated.

Compared to the previous year, the number of seizures has increased significantly by around 100 packages.

Andreas Pilsl, Landespolizeidirektor

"The amount of confiscated and banned pyrotechnics shows that the controls are necessary. We want to prevent incalculably dangerous objects from being used and causing accidents," says Provincial Police Director Andreas Pilsl.

Hand almost blown off
On Saturday evening in Seewalchen, an 18-year-old reportedly almost blew off his left hand with a homemade firecracker.

Ball bombs have enormous explosive power.

(Bild: andrewburgess)

Three boys who set off dozens of category F2 firecrackers in Traun are now also in trouble - especially their parents. Two of the children are only 11 and 13 years old and therefore still minors. The parents had stated that they had given the firecrackers to the children.