Hyderabad firecracker eye injuries: 60 treated, 8 need surgery

About 60 people, nearly half of them children, have been treated for firecracker eye injuries at Hyderabad's Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital after Diwali. The hospital's superintendent said 10 of the 60 patients were admitted and eight were posted for surgery, including three children and five adults. The figures were as of 9 am on Monday (9 November), the Press Trust of India and The News Minute reported.

Of the 60 patients, 29 were under 18 and 31 were adults, Deccan Chronicle reported. Hospital superintendent Dr Modini Pandharpurkar said two patients appeared to be in serious condition and risked losing their vision. Deccan Chronicle reported that one bystander suffered complete loss of vision in one eye, and that the major injuries involved ruptures of the cornea, eyeball and eyelids. Most injuries were caused by a mix of sutli bombs and rockets, with one linked to a mirchi bomb, it reported.

Many of the injured were not the ones lighting the crackers. Dr Pandharpurkar said nearly one-third of the patients were bystanders or passers-by, and that the eye injuries were mostly caused by the impact of the fireworks rather than burns, The News Minute reported. Nampally MLA Majid Hussain of the AIMIM, who visited the hospital, said that about half of the injured were pedestrians hit by debris while walking on the road, according to The News Mill. The two figures are different estimates; the hospital has not published a breakdown.

“Doctors have informed me that the eyesight of one of those patients could not be restored. Compared to last year, the number of cases has increased this year,” Hussain told ANI. The hospital treated 54 patients with eye injuries after Diwali in 2025 and has seen 40 to 50 each year for the past four years, The News Minute reported.

The numbers have kept rising. The Hindu later reported that 74 patients had come to the hospital over 7 and 8 November, 37 of them children, with 12 admitted and 10 scheduled for surgery on Monday. Dr Pandharpurkar told the paper she expected more patients from the districts over the next two to three days. The L V Prasad Eye Institute separately reported 92 firecracker-related injuries over the two nights, of which 25 patients were advised surgery. These counts come from different hospitals and time windows and should not be added together.

The hospital's resident medical officer, Dr Mohammad Ibrahim, urged parents to make sure children do not burst crackers without adult supervision, to use open spaces with water kept nearby, and, if an eye is hurt, to wash it with clean water, avoid treating it at home and go to the nearest hospital, preferably an eye hospital.

Elsewhere, a 10-year-old boy died in Delhi's Narela on Diwali night when an anar exploded near his chest, as The Indian Idiot reported.