A FAMILY in Kuala Lumpur had a rude shock when stray fireworks shot into their house during prayers and exploded, China Press reported.
The incident took place just past midnight on Feb 25 when the family was celebrating the Jade Emperor’s birthday in conjunction with the ninth day of Chinese New Year.
CCTV footage provided by the homeowner showed a table filled with prayer offerings to the Jade Emperor on the front porch.
Just as a neighbour was setting off fireworks across the street, some of them veered off course and flew directly into the homeowner’s courtyard where they exploded and scattered sparks everywhere.
It startled the family members at home.
While setting off fireworks was part of the celebration, the homeowner urged the public to be more careful.
“This posed a serious threat to the safety of residents. If it had accidentally triggered a fire, the consequences would have been unthinkable,” he said.
He hoped the footage would help raise awareness on choosing suitable locations to set off fireworks safely.
> The daily also reported that a giant panda in Sichuan, China, went viral on social media after it attempted to chew a mobile phone that fell into its enclosure and refused to return it to the handlers.
The incident took place on Feb 22 at the China Conservation and Research Centre for Giant Panda when a visitor accidentally dropped his mobile into the enclosure.
A panda named Qingling noticed the object and quickly picked it up.
Footage of the incident showed the animal holding the phone and placing it in its mouth before chewing it, prompting gasps from visitors.
Zoo keepers attempted to distract the panda with food in a bid to retrieve the device, but was ignored.
At one point, one of the keepers managed to grab onto the phone using a grabber but it was quickly snatched back by the panda.
It was after some time that Qingling got bored and dropped the phone.
That was when keepers managed to quickly retrieve it with a grabber and return it to its owner.
The above article is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with this ' >'sign, it denotes a separate news item.
