Chinese lantern problem spreads beyond farming

Farm leaders’ calls for Chinese lanterns to be banned are gaining support from the wider public.

The mother of a toddler who had his face badly burned after debris from a lantern dropped from the sky is calling for an outright ban.

According to Sky News, Cael Jones was with his family and friends on Bonfire Night at a party in Penycae, near Wrexham, when the accident happened.

The family were watching the lanterns climbing through the sky when a melted section fell out of one of the lanterns and landed on the little boy’s face.

“It’s shocking what happened, it was the worst night of my life,” his mother told Sky. “The oil got stuck on his face and his face was black. Everyone was screaming. He couldn’t open his eyes.”

It has also emerged that Chinese lanterns are causing problems for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

From 1 October 2009 to 30 September 2010 the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responded to 128 false alerts believed to have been caused by sky lanterns.

Lifeboats were launched for 26 of these incidents and on two occasions a helicopter was sent out to investigate.