FARIDABAD: A 17-year-old boy lost a hand after he was injured on Diwali while bursting an improvised firecracker using sulphur and potassium nitrate. The firecracker is believed to have been made by stuffing sulphur and potassium nitrate inside an iron rod, doctors and his parents said on Tuesday.The incident occurred on Diwali evening when the boy left his house in Ballabgarhs Arya Nagar to burst firecrackers."We did not know that Upendra was bursting a pipe by filling it with the mixture. The pipe burst and his hand was torn to pieces," his father Sanjeev Kumar said.The teenager was rushed to the Badshah Khan Government hospital, where the doctors referred him to a private hospital in Sector 21 as they didnt have adequate facilities for his treatment. "The boy needed an immediate operation and there were no surgeons available at that time in the night. Thats why he was sent to the private hospital nearby," said Dr Ritu Sharma, who was posted at the government hospitals emergency ward when the family came in.From the private hospital, he was again referred to Delhis Safdarjung hospital, where he was operated on, and his hand was amputated. He is recovering and his condition is stable, his family said. Asked about the incident, a spokesperson for Faridabad police told TOI that using the powdered elements was a "new method" being adopted by youngsters to make crackers in an attempt to skirt restrictions imposed in Delhi-NCR to reduce pollution. "It is not exactly a firecracker, but it makes a loud sound. We were not aware of the incident. If such chemicals and improvised crackers are found in someones possession, we will act against them. It is illegal and also dangerous. We will look into the incident as well," the spokesperson Sube Singh said.Last week, a 21-year-old youngster died while mixing sulphur with another compound to make firecrackers at his home in northeast Delhi.

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