Man Loses Eye After Unopened Box Of Fireworks Explodes

ROYSE CITY (CBSDFW.COM) - A man lost an eye and may go blind after his family says an unopened box of fireworks exploded.

On Sunday, Nicholas Santiago was spending the day with family at a ranch near Royse City. His cousin said that's when an unopened box of a firework called the "Bayou Boogie" combusted.

"He was not even close to (the box)," said his cousin Xiomara Garcia. "He was walking toward it and it exploded, and the explosion was so bad, he flew back and we had trouble finding him because it was so dark."

Garcia said they could hear him screaming in agony, and his cries for help is how they eventually located him.

"He was just bleeding from his eyes, his nose, his mouth, screaming, 'I can't see,' " described Garcia.

Santiago, a 26-year-old father of one, was airlifted to a Plano Hospital. Doctors are hoping he's able to see out of his left eye, but it's currently swollen shut.

His family said they went back to the fireworks stand where they made the purchase and asked them to stop selling the Bayou Boogie.

The stand is located at 5574 Highway 276 in Royse City in the Southern Junction parking lot.

"The store basically just dismissed us," said Garcia.

The Bayou Boogie is made by a company called Wild Dragon Fireworks. Neither the manufacturer nor the fireworks stand owner has returned CBS11's requests for comment.

Santiago is currently in the burn ICU and uninsured but his family set up a GoFundMe page to help pay his medical expenses.