A teenage girl and a young boy in Nangarhar province have been injured by fireworks in celebrations over the victory of Afghanistan’s national cricket team against Pakistan.
Naqibullah Rahimi, spokesperson for Nangarhar’s Public Health Department, said the 17-year-old girl has lost one of her eyes in the incident while the boy will make a full recovery.
He did not provide further details about their identities or where the incidents occurred.
Mr Rahimi said on Tuesday that the young boy had already been discharged from Nangarhar provincial hospital and he is in a good condition.
On Monday, many streets around Afghanistan erupted celebratory gunfire and fireworks after the national team defeated Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup for the first time in a one-day international.
Some residents in Kabul said that the gunshots were terrifying to them and the intensity of the cheers had frightened those who didn’t know about the match.
“We didn’t know about the cricket game. When the shooting started, we thought it was a war,” Humaira*, a resident of Kabul’s 6th district said. “The sounds of gunshots came from very a close distance. But then we searched the news and we realized that it is not a war.”
The match was played in Pakistan with Afghanistan beating the hosts by eight wickets and successfully chasing down the 283 run-target.
It’s only Afghanistan’s third win at the World Cup. The first being was in 2015 against Scotland and their second win was eight days ago in a stunning upset against England.
