ISLAMABAD: At least 95 people were injured due to aerial firing incidents in the southern port city of Karachi on Independence Day eve, the city’s top police surgeon Dr. Sumaiya Syed Tariq said on Wednesday. 

Aerial firing is not uncommon in Pakistan, especially Karachi, on joyous occasions where the practice has claimed lives on several occasions in the past. Celebratory gunfire is unlawful, though it is not always possible for the police and other state institutions to implement the rule across the country.

The sound of gunshots and fireworks rang out in many parts of the city on Tuesday around midnight as the country welcomed its 78th Independence Day. 

“A total of 95 people were injured in various parts of Karachi due to aerial firing on Tuesday night,” Dr. Tariq told Arab News. 

She said 39 people were admitted for injuries in the city’s Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center hospital while 29 injured were admitted to the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Institute of Trauma. 

Thirty-four people were also admitted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital in the city for gunshot injuries due to aerial firing, Dr. Tariq added. 

Of the total number of people injured, 75 were males while 20 were females. The oldest person to be injured due to aerial firing was a 74-year-old man while the youngest was a five-year-old. Both were admitted to the JPMC for treatment. 

Meanwhile, Karachi District Central police said in a statement it had arrested 14 people for resorting to aerial firing on Independence Day eve. 

Last year, 33 people were injured in Karachi due to aerial firing on New Year’s Eve.