75 kg of pyrotechnics exploded in the car due to absurd carelessness: “I learned my lesson”

TO Gerben, a 21-year-old Dutchman, his New Year’s plans didn’t go as planned. On Friday, before the preparations for the party, his car completely caught fire due to an unusual inattention.

Gerben, a resident of Nieuwleusen, was returning with a friend from Germany with 75 kilos of fireworks. They wanted, as always, to greet the year with everything.

But when he was a few kilometers from home he had no other idea than to light a cigarette, smoke it and throw it out the window. He never thought that this action would lead to the end of his fireworks and the end of his black Volvo V70.

The wind played tricks on him. Gerben threw the cigarette out the window, but the wind carried it back into the car. Burning tobacco fell onto the fireworks and it didn’t take long for them to explode.

After hearing the explosion, Gerben thought they needed to urgently get out of the car, which they did. Moreover, smoke enveloped everything.

An oversight with a happy ending

In a viral video from X you can see how fireworks escape from the window with the car engulfed in flames.

Firefighters responded to the scene and attempted to save the vehicle but were unsuccessful.

“It’s a shame that my car and fireworks are missing,” Gerben told Hart van Nederland, adding that he doesn’t expect to receive any insurance compensation to replace his car.

As if this were not enough, you are not allowed to set off fireworks in your place of residence, but he does it anyway.

Even though he has learned the lesson that one should no longer smoke in cars with fireworks, he refuses to comply with his city’s ban.

“My friend went back to Germany this morning to buy new fireworks,” he said.