Diwali celebrations go awry for BTech student as rocket lands on her right eye

This year's Diwali celebrations turned out to be tragic for 18-year-old Swapna M, a student of Guru Nanak Institute of Technology, when a rocket fired by her college mates, accidentally landed on her right eye. The accident has left her partially blind, rues her father M Shanker. "My daughter was on her way from her hostel to attend the Diwali festivities organised at the college ground on Thursday evening. Suddenly, a rocket fired by some students hit her directly on her right eye from a distance of just 10ft-15ft. Hearing her loud screams, her friends ran towards her and took her to a private hospital in Ibrahimpatnam with the help of the college management. After nearly two hours, she was admitted to Sarojini Devi Eye hospital for better treatment. But the college authorities informed us about the incident only at 10: 30 pm. 90 per cent of the vision in her right eye has been lost, say doctors," he says, blaming the college officials for the mishap. "They should have taken enough precautions while conducting such gala events on campus," he says.

Recalling the night of horror, Sapna's classmate Saikiran, who was one of the 500-odd students at the Diwali celebrations, says, "Blood was oozing down from her right eye, and she was crying uncontrollably, unable to bear the pain. She was rushed to the private hospital where she was given first aid before bringing her here for expert care."

After having undergone a surgery on Thursday night, Swapna is currently under observation, says Dr Ravinder Goud, in-charge superintendent of the hospital.
"Her right eye has been damaged with serious injuries to cornea and vitreous. The retina was also damaged to some extent. It will take at least 2-3 months to decide if we can go for eye transplant to restore her vision. We have done a surgery on her eye and succeeded in arresting the bleeding and repairing the wound."

Dr Ravinder added that out of 12 such accident cases he came across this Diwali, seven involved children who were celebrating at home. "It's appalling that parents are not taking proper care of kids. It's high time we stop the use of rockets and crackers and make Diwali safer," he adds.

When contacted college vice-principal GS Kohli said, "The management understands the anguish of the student's parents and are looking at the incident seriously. A disciplinary committee will look into the incident to ascertain why it happened," said Kohli, adding that the officials have rushed the student immediately to the hospital.