A 3-year-old boy has died from injuries received at the New Year's Eve fireworks explosion in Oʻahu's Salt Lake-Āliamanu neighborhood. He is the fourth fatality so far, according to local officials.
The Honolulu Department of the Medical Examiner identified the boy as Cassius Ramos-Benigno. The cause and manner of death were both listed as pending on Monday.
The explosion also left three women dead and dozens injured, including children.
"That 3-year-old was in an ambulance when I got there about 15 minutes after the event happened. So I didn't see that 3-year-old, but our teams took care of him, teams with EMS and the Honolulu Fire Department, and got him to Kapiʻolani and did everything they could for that boy," said Dr. Jim Ireland, director of the Honolulu Emergency Service Department.
"But we still have this outcome, and it just makes it that much more tragic, and it's tough," he told HPR. "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."
The medical examiner has already identified two women who were killed: Nelie Ibarra, 58, and Jennifer Van, 23. The identity of the third woman, 61-year-old Carmelita Benigno, was released Tuesday.
Local authorities previously said someone lit a cake of aerial fireworks, which then tipped over and shot into a box of crates containing more fireworks at 4144 Keaka Drive. First responders described the scene as a warzone.
Over 20 people were transported by emergency medical services to multiple hospitals in life-threatening condition with burns, shrapnel injuries, burst eardrums, broken bones and impalement injuries.
Six victims were transported via military plane over the weekend to Valleywise Health's Diane & Bruce Halle Arizona Burn Center in Phoenix for further medical treatment. The six are all in their 20s or 30s and have extensive burns, Dr. Kevin Foster, the director of the Arizona Burn Center, said at a news conference streamed online.
Each of the six is using a breathing tube and most are in medically induced comas. It will be six months to a year before any of the victims are able to return to anything resembling a normal life, Foster said.
Additional fireworks were recovered and removed safely from the Keaka Drive home. It's unclear where the fireworks came from, but there could be federal charges as the investigation continues.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is also involved in the investigation.
