Woman Dies, Man Loses Hands in July 4 Accidents

Another Fourth of July has passed and once again, carelessness or bad luck with fireworks meant some people didn't make it through the weekend. Some cases from around the country:

• Detroit man Mike Aburouman, 44, was killed almost instantly when a firework he picked up to light flew directly into his chest. "It was like a flash, like a bomb, and he fell backwards. I went over there and grabbed his hand and said, 'Hey Mike, it'll be all right,'" but Aburouman's pulse was gone within a minute, a friend tells the Detroit Free Press.

• In Auburndale, Fla., a 49-year-old woman was killed when she went to retrieve a large mortar-style firework from a pile kept in a bedroom and one accidentally ignited, causing the rest of them to go off, WKMG reports. Kathryn Flint's 25-year-old son was severely burned as he removed his mother from the burning room.
• Police in San Jose say a man was igniting illegal fireworks in front of family members when one exploded, blowing off both his hands, the San Jose Mercury News reports. He is expected to survive. Two other men in the city lost fingers when a mortar-type firework they were trying to ignite went off in their hands.
• Fireworks were also the cause of many fires around the country, including one in Emporia, Kansas, when a senior living facility burned to the ground in a blaze blamed on fireworks that were improperly disposed of, KAKE reports. All the residents escaped safely.

(More fireworks stories.)