New Year firecrackers: authorities receive 365 calls for help

As many as 365 citizens have called the 999 national helpline to complain about the sound of firecrackers during New Year celebrations.

The authorities received 160 of the calls in Dhaka, where the newly inaugurated metro rail services were suspended for two hours on Sunday morning due to sky lanterns that fell on the tracks and electricity lines.

Abdus Sattar, an inspector at the National Emergency Service, said police helped the citizens of Dhaka who called the helpline.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police clamped restrictions on New Year’s Eve celebrations. They ordered all bars across the capital to close by 6 pm on Saturday. Outdoor events, as well as flying sky lanterns and setting off firecrackers, were prohibited.

But people gathered at key points of their neighbourhoods and rooftops. Many of them set off firecrackers and flew sky lanterns.

Ershad Hossain, the duty officer at Fire Service and Civil Service’s control room, said fire incidents were reported in Kaptanbazar, Lalbagh and Sadarghat.

At Sadarghat, power lines were burned by a fire caused by a sky lantern. In Lalbagh and Adabor, power supply was disrupted due to sky lanterns falling on utility lines.