Aliamanu, Honolulu, Hawaii New Years fireworks fatalities identfied as Nelie Ibarra, her sister, Lita along with 3rd woman, Jennifer Van in preventable tragedy.
Honolulu, Hawaii officials have released the identifies two of the three fatalities following a fireworks display accident during Tuesday night New Years eve celebrations in Aliamanu, that led to countless victims who are now fighting for their lives.
Authorities said a fireworks ‘cake’ with roughly 50 illegal aerial rockets positioned on a table surface tipped over and fired into a carport of a 3 storey home that set off more fireworks inside in a ‘chain reaction.’
Three women were killed, Nelie Ibarra, 58 and Jennifer Van, 23 along with Nelie’s sister, Lita according to a GoFundme fundraiser. The cause and manner of their deaths are still pending according to Hawaii News Now.
Preventable tragedy
The tragedy led to no less than 26 injured, (23 adults and three children) some with critical injuries, including burns and shrapnel wounds over much of their bodies following the fireworks accident in the Honolulu residential neighborhood of Aliamanu,
The explosion occurred at a 3 storey house 3 miles west of Fort Shafter, the headquarters of U.S. Army Pacific. Videos posted to social media show a rapid series of bursts creating a blinding light next to the house as fireworks erupted around the city just after midnight.
Organic material (including brain matter) from people hit by the blast was found on windows across the street from the epicenter. Two women were pronounced dead at the scene, and a third died later at the hospital, police said according to the Star Advertiser.
Honolulu Fire Department Chief Sheldon K. Hao said one woman was found dead in the driveway of the home and another was on the street. Neighbors said the two were sisters, both mothers in their 50s, and one was a grandmother.
🚨🇺🇸NEW YEAR’S FIREWORKS TURN DEADLY IN HAWAII: 2 DEAD, 22 HURT
Chaos erupted in Honolulu’s Salt Lake-Aliamanu area as a fireworks explosion claimed 2 lives and left 22 injured in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
The tragedy reportedly began when a 14-year-old boy detonated a… pic.twitter.com/3vts4TB1jd
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) January 1, 2025
More deaths expected in Aliamanu fireworks accident
‘It really looked like a war zone and like a bomb dropped right in front of that house,’ Hao said.
‘I’ve been in EMS for over 30 years and this is probably one of the worst calls I’ve ever been on as far as just the immense tragedy and amount of patients and severity of the injuries,’ Dr. James Ireland, director of Honolulu’s Department of Emergency Services, said at an early morning news conference Wednesday.
During a Wednesday afternoon news conference, Gov. Josh Green, a physician, said it is ‘highly likely’ that more people will die as their lungs were burned out due to the incident.
‘This incident is a painful reminder of the danger posed by illegal fireworks, which put lives at risk, drain our first responder resources, and disrupt our communities,’ Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said of the ‘preventable tragedy.’
‘Year after year, a minority of individuals recklessly endanger us all. This is absurd and unacceptable.’
Come Thursday, family and friends gathered to pay tribute to the three women who were killed after fireworks exploded at a home.
Officials recovered ‘tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of illegal fireworks from the home.
Aerial fireworks require a pyrotechnic permit under Hawaiian state law. However, only a small minority of attempts to prosecute those violating fireworks restrictions result in guilty verdicts or pleas, and they usually result in only minor fines, according to a Honolulu Civil Beat analysis.
