Mum issues Bonfire Night warning after watching her son's eye 'leak down his face' when a 'dud' firework exploded

Aleks Stasiukiewicz, 17, of Hartlepool, suffered the loss of his left eye and part of his eyelid after approaching an unexploded firework to relight it at a park in November 2024, following an organised display at a local rugby club. Surgeons at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough removed firework debris from his eye socket and fitted a prosthetic implant. He also sustained burns to his arm and leg and a broken front tooth.

Aleks said: 'I know it can be tempting to break the rules but fireworks can cause serious, life-changing injuries.'

His mother Julie watched medics treat him inside the ambulance, having rushed to the scene after receiving a call from a friend that she initially took for a joke.

In a separate incident in 2022, Riley Luke, 12, of Paisley, had four fingers and part of his hand torn away in a firework accident, leaving him in an induced coma for two weeks.