3-Year-Old Boy Dies After Honolulu New Year’s Fireworks Explosion, Increasing Death Toll to 4

Mar. 15, 2025

A toddler is the latest person to die following theNew Year’s fireworks explosionin Hawaii, bringing the death toll up to four.

He is the fourth person to die after the explosion in the Aliamanu neighborhood of Honolulu on Wednesday, Dec. 31.

Dr. Jim Ireland, director of the Honolulu Emergency Service Department, said first responders “did everything they could for that boy” after the explosion, according toHawaii Public Radio.

“But we still have this outcome,” Ireland continued, “and it just makes it that much more tragic, and it’s tough. We do see tragedies, and we do see things that are very, very sad, but not to this scale, and so many people are critically ill. And when you have children involved, it just makes it that much worse.”

Home where a New Year’s Eve fireworks explosion killed and injured people in Honolulu.AP Photo/Marco Garcia

AP Photo/Marco Garcia

PEOPLEpreviously confirmedthat two sisters, 58-year-old Nelie Ibarra and 23-year-old Jennifer Van, were among those who died.

Six people were transported to a burn unit in Arizona on Saturday, Jan. 4, according to the AP.

Dr. Kevin Foster, the director of the Arizona Burn Center, said at a news conference that the people being treated were all in their 20s or 30s.

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At a separatenews conference, Ireland said the fatal fireworks incident was “one of the worst” he ever responded to due to “the immense tragedy and amount of patients and severity of the injuries.”

Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi also previously stated, “We are angry, frustrated, and deeply saddened at this unnecessary suffering and loss of life.”

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green previously described the explosive used as a “cake bomb” — a term for a homemade explosive device.

At apress conferenceon Thursday, Jan. 2, Green described the scene as a “war zone,” adding, “People had traumatic injuries so badly that brain material was across the sidewalk from the ferocity of the explosion.”

source: people.com