DOH records 1st stray bullet case

MANILA, Philippines — A seven-year-old boy from Claveria, Masbate is the first stray bullet victim this Christmas season, according to the Department of Health (DOH).

The DOH said the boy was hit by a stray bullet while in their kitchen on Christmas Eve.

“A visitor fired a gun inside their house in celebration of Christmas. The boy was hit in the abdomen and right thigh,” the DOH said in its Fireworks-Related Injury Surveillance report released yesterday.

The DOH said the victim underwent surgery at the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital.

The Claveria police said it was still validating if the incident was due to a stray bullet.

The DOH said also documented a first case of piccolo injury – a 19-year-old woman from Manila.

“The case was a passive user and sustained superficial partial thickness burn on her left foot on Monday,” the agency said.

Piccolo was the leading cause of firecracker injuries to children in recent years.

The DOH said it recorded 12 fireworks-related injuries from Dec. 21 to 29.

Bicol and Metro Manila recorded three cases each; Western Visayas, two, and Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Western Visayas, Davao and Soccsksargen, one each.

Police reported the first injury from stray bullet in Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija on Thursday last week.

The Nueva Ecija police said the victim was sleeping in his nipa hut in Barangay Sapo when he was awakened by pain due to a bullet wound in his right leg.