2006 starts with EUR 50m bang

The Dutch public greeted the New Year with an almighty bang and a shower of colour, thanks to EUR 50 million worth of fireworks, the sector organisation for fireworks retailers said on Monday. This mirrored the situation in previous years. "This was a slight disappointment. The indications were favourable and we had expected the figure would be higher than other years," a spokesperson said. Pre-sale orders and the first day on which fireworks could legally be sold was very successful, but sales on the last day were much lower than expected. The spokesperson could not give an explanation for the sales pattern.

7m New Year's SMS messages

A record seven million SMS messages were transmitted via KPN's mobile phone network after midnight on 31 December. A further 3.2 million people made a call on their mobiles to wish relatives and friends a Happy New Year, according to figures published by KPN. Data on calls made via KPN's fixed lines and via other telephone providers are not available.

8,000 take traditional New Year's dip

Over 8,200 people took part in the traditional New Year's dip in the sea at Scheveningen on Sunday. The theme this year was the Olympic Games. Participants tried to outdo each other by dressing in as much orange attire as possible to win a free trip to the Winter Games in Turin this year.

Woman seriously injured by rocket

A 34-year-old man from Leiden surrendered himself to police on New Year's Day after a woman, 20, suffered a serious head injury when she was hit by one of his rockets during the fireworks celebrations in the city the night before. The woman's 2-year-old child was slightly injured. The police said the accident was caused by an illegal firework.

Dutch tourist drowns in Galicia

A Dutchman drowned after being dragged out to sea by a large wave off the coast of La Coruña, northwest Spain, it was reported on Sunday. The man's daughter was injured. They were taking photographs of the Millennium monument on the rocky coast when the accident occurred. Rescue teams used a helicopter to recover the man's body from the sea.

[Copyright Expatica News 2006]

Subject: Dutch news