Do not explode a firecracker in your hand never (update)

BEWARE! Gory Images

Another case of firecracker associated injuries here.

firecracker1

firecracker2

For those who don’t believe in that this kind of accidents really happen, this is a story who GruntDoc wrote, with the same outcome.

The pictures are self explaining.

GruntDoc says: “The devastation on this X-ray is nothing compared to the actual flesh-and-blood injury. A life changed in a second.”

81 thoughts on “Do not explode a firecracker in your hand never (update)”

  1. Pingback: Top 5 Worst Fireworks Accidents | When In Manila

  2. I knew a man with no fingers on his right hand when I was younger.He had closed his hand tightly on a firecracker. He was desparately trying to learn how to make a living as a piano tuner. Apparantly closing the hand creates a compression chamber .

  3. Its not size that counts neather its tipe , its the presure excerted , at least 150 000PSI
    a electric match that makes a snap in free air , could also fragmantate a glas botle in your face , is submerged in a solit liquit . even water . even when its open on the top of the botle

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  5. i am a fireworks professional. i will straighten this out, an average firecracker(2 inch tube) will not blow up your hand like this, only if you close your hands.
    also, when people say “quarter stick” or “1/8 stick” they dont mean by power, it refers to sound compared to dynamite. dynamite is so much more powerful than any flash powder.
    also, any fireworks bigger than a generic firecracker is a real health risk to hold.

  6. IT WAS NOT A DAM PIPE BOMB FOR THE 100TH TIME! First of all a pipe bomb wouldnt just take off a hand it would prolly take off your whole arm and part of your torso. Secondly if holding a pipebomb you deff wouldnt survive all of the shrapnal would shred you up like bullets.

  8. It’s real, you retards. I’ve seen “M-80’s” made with 8 grams of standard KClO4 flash powder (not the ones you can buy) go off and they will indeed f you up six times to next Sunday. They are scary loud and when lit in the middle of the street, the concussion will shake the walls of a house. They are so powerful that they cross the threshold from just having some fun to risking your life. And they are loud enough that they aren’t even cool because the cops come every time. This is 100% real and if you don’t believe it do yourself a favor and go play with some sparklers. Sheesh. Idiots!

  9. I can’t believe anyone would think that this is a myth! What?

    Firecrackers as we know them don’t do this, but more powerful ones such as now-illegal M-80’s. M-90’s, from my experience, are little more than firecrackers that look like M-80’s.

    I did not believe my friend when he said that an M-80 would blow a mailbox 20 feet in the air. Then he showed me, and it came down flattened out, and smoking. It’s a good thing they are illegal, I hate to say it. (i miss them)

  10. I am really amazed by some of the foolish comments here. I am a chemical engineer, and I could make something that looks like an “M-80” that will just go “poof”, and I could make something that looks identical that could blow the windows out of your house. The fact is, until it goes off, you don’t know what it is.

  11. No such thing as an “M-100” or, “H-100” firecracker blowing off a hand. M-100’s are merely 5 grain ‘crackers in a bigger tube, with some plaster. What caused THIS was an illict firecracker of over 5 grams–probably 20 grain (“quarter-stick”.) Maybe even some Picric Acid (A H.E. similar to T.N.T. in it) , who knows? It would have to be home made, or, by some fly-by-night. “H-100’s” never existed. Just another word for M-80. The ATF, at least, in the U.S, says any over 5 grains illegal after 1966, no matter What their name. They don’t define by generics, just composition.
    No, I don’t doubt a 20-grain illicit tdoing it at all. Why isn’t he/she bleeding to death at the point photo was taken, is what I don’t understand?

  12. I have no doubt the pictures are real. I have been making M-80 and larger (sometimes MUCH larger) salutes for over 30 years and, because I understand and respect the power of them, I still retain all my digits. After Halloween, it has become a custom for me to go to my daughters’ house to give the family jack-o-lantern a “proper” send off. One of my 3 inchers blows a very large pumpkin into many small pieces—some of which have been found well over a hundred feet away and leaves a depression in the ground where the pumpkin had been. I have commented many times to amazed spectators that, if one of those went off in your hand, it would take it off all the way to the elbow and probably kill you with shrapnel made from your bones.

  13. The difference between a firecracker blowing up in your hand doing no damage vs. losing the hand

    …is the difference between holding it in a CLOSED hand or fist vs. OPEN hand.

  14. Pingback: Fireworks under fire | Watts Up With That?

  15. To all the people tho are stupid enough to hold a firecracker in your hand: Its a fricking explosive. Explosives + Body Parts = NOTHING GOOD

  18. Yesterday I had a little normal sized firecracker ( the 1 and a half inchers) blow up in my hand. All that happend was very minor bruising nothing else

  19. When you close your hand you hold on an m80 you are harnessing 1/8 a stick of dynamite in you hard, you close your hand, and that “harmless firecracker” has nowhere to go but to blow you hand to bits!

  20. Those of you who live in the U.S. probably never seen a real m-80 or a m-1000. Maybe you got one of those “Red Devil” or “TNT” brand m-80’s. Those aren’t the real thing. A firecracker held right will do no harm. Held the wrong way, can take a finger off. A m-1000 in mexico could be called a firecracker, but don’t be fooled, it is a half stick of dynomite. Dynomite, the stuff used to blow things up. So be educated, know your limits, and have fun blowin shit up (even if it is your hand)!

  21. I have told my sons a thousand times not to pick up a lit firework, but I just found out that my son picked up a lit firecracker and threw it. Seeing how he obviously doesn’t think it could hurt him I went looking for reinforcements and found these graphic pictures which I showed to my son and all his friends. I don’t think my son or his friends will ever get this picture of a shredded, mangled hand out of their minds and they will not pick up anymore lit fireworks. Now they realize what I’ve been warning them about, I just needed a visual like this to prove my point. Thank you!!!!!! P.S. So sorry for the person this happened to.

  22. whoever has done that and not had anything happen to them(which im sure is nobody) u r very lucky and you could have had ur head blown off, and to whoever thinks this is funny have it happen to u and see how funny u think it is now.

  23. Things like this happen even with a small bottle rocket,one can blow your eye out and disfigure changing your life forever.Believe me be careful because it happened to me and i live with the effects daily.

  26. U no wat, i dont even no y people do this crap, i mean common now wat type of world do we live in wear peaple do idiotic things like blowing there freaking heads and faces off. real talk it doesnt matter if the m-80 is real or not, regardless of whats going to happen its still dangerous. And iahtoaht in surly no u did not blow an atomic bomb in ur hand because if a real m-80 can blow a watermelon sized hole in the ground, son an atomic bomb would demolish u.

  27. This is true. To those unbelievers, it’s a common scenes from the hospitals in the Philippines every new year. Check them out in Philippines newspapers.

  28. So JonMikel M.D. what is your point of these pics? first of all these are Paloma’s, which are mostly illegal in the U.S. (except for the fake ones called “triangles”) because the good ones have too much powder. THESE ARE ILLEGAL IN THE UNITED STATES. And so are m-80’s or anything with more than 50 mg of flash powder. I don’t care what you and your medical degree say, but i guarantee that a regular black cat firecracker will not blow your hand off, so you should change the title of your post and stop scaring people who don’t know better. Even me, a freshman at high school am not stupid enough to believe in your misleading info. So if they are illegal, they are illegal, that means anyone who possesses these in the U.S. is breaking the law. And its not right to say that and scare all these people.

    LIKE I SAID THAT WAS NOT A CLASS C 1.4G FIREWORK! Change the name of you post please, you seem like your just helping the people who want to outlaw fireworks, and seeing this just cements more fake ideas about fireworks.

  29. Well, I think, it’s mainly that all different places have different firecrackers, measurements and such, so for the people who like holding it in their hands and putting it in their mouths, I would not reccomend when you’re on holiday, to buy and M80 or something and immediately shove it down your throat..

    Test it first, see what it can do, and if you’re still stupid enough to do it, do it..

    Well, what I’m trying to say is.. have respect for fireworks, and they’ll have respect for you.. well, that’s just my opinion..

  30. I both agree and disagree with you Jack Daniels. True these kids are a bunch of brainless idiots, that have no real intellect of what a real m-80 firecracker is and so on and so forth is,but you should’t try and pursuade them into trying to kill themselves with illegal firecrackers or any other explosive device! You are absolutely right! A real m-80 firecracker will either completely remove your hand or turn it into a messy nub as seen above! But if these kids wanna mess with these things without having the common sense to atleast do research on them and be as safe as possible.I think blowing thier hand off would be a lesson well learned…. Don’t you?

  32. I like the posts about the warnings. I would rather have a slight amount of fear which is a sign of intelligence, then have no clue like some of these idiots that have posted here. Some of these kids…I swear to God! Their parents need to snatch them up by the hair and drag their ass inside and beat some sense into them. Yeah yeah yeah…this is a new age…blah blah blah…and that’s exactly why these kids say and do the stupid things they do today, and their parents end up paying for it.

    You ever let me catch a kid doing something astupid like this, and they’ll be paying the doc at the hospital a visit allright…for a busted mouth.

    That idiot that posted about putting an M80 in his mouth above has NO IDEA! Maybe he really needs to try that…it would be natural selection! Son, I shouldn’t havwe to tell you this, but a REAL M80 will blow your empty head clean off your shoulders! If you are lucky it might still hang there by the brain stem as that is a touch part of the body to shear off, but the result will be the same. You will end up very very dead!

    It burns me up every year I read these stories, because I work with chemicals and compouds like this all the time, and it’s morons like that that cause the rest of us greif, and more Inept Gov’t regulation. We have to go through more beuracratic bullshit than should be allowed, and we’re the one’s with the sense to use the stuff properly.

    I swear these morons would be dangerous with an on/off switch and probably couldn’t follow the directions on that without screwing it up.

    For those of the incredibly stupid above…
    Please, if you are going to do something like this, make sure you do it right, and blow your head completely off and save the doctors the trouble, and the stress of having to put you back together again. Make sure you are completely dead and not just hanging by a thread so the EMT’s don’t have to stress over you either. Unfortunately for the intelligent of the world, the EMT’s don’t consider natural selection as a normal function to purge the the shallow end of the gene pool.

    The gene pool needs cleansing!

    For those thougtful and helpful posts that are only trying to help, I apologize. Stupidity is not contagious thank God! I’m glasd to see there are are still more than a few people left in the world with the sense god gave them.

  33. It’s not even the amount of flashpowder (although that will contribute.) Its the compression. When it explodes while your holding it like with 2 fingers, the “EX”plosion barely nips your fingertips because there is enough air around it. If you hold it “in” your hand. The proper definition of “in” is quite simple, the compression has nowhere to go so it will push its way through your flesh considering that no human has a reaction time to open your hand and let it escape. Look at it this way if you will. What happens to the firecracker itself when it ignites? If you look at it theres not much left except debris. Its the the same situation as if you were to remove the shell, pour the powder into your hand, clench tightly and jam a fuse in it. It has to go somewhere doesn’t it. It’s not a scare tactic you imbecile, it’s simple chemistry.

  35. a blackcat firecracker exploded in my hand just the other day. it hurt like a bitch for about 30 seconds and then it just numbed my hand…this must of been some mexican fucked up firecracker XD

  36. that kid got bullied..
    im getting some from france my m8 is buying them 4 me ..
    ha metal can (gota do that)
    but not messin up ma hand i need it if u no wah i mean =p
    haaa
    m98 they any good
    wb

  38. There is a guy who stuck an m-100 firecracker in his mouth and got his face blown off.
    (he died) There is a site that has picture of the guy. I will link to the site upon request, but be WARNED, “this site is focused on bringing you the latest news in an unordinary and uncensored fashion. Not for the faint of heart.”

    anyways here is some text from the site:
    “These graphic photos are of a subject who placed an M-100 firecracker (the equivilent of 1/4 stick of dynamite) into his mouth and lit the fuse. Generally, firecracker fuses do not have a “standard” burn time. Some go fast and some go s-l-o-w. At a minimum, this incident reinforces the need for greater awareness of safety around fireworks.”

  40. i am proof that m-80 ect. are insanly dangerous, ive had part of my foot (all toes andsome metacarpals) completely blown off by an m-80 ive been walking for about 5 years now and have been walking without crutches for 2. And i was rushed to the hospital but they did have time to take pictures of me. and take x rays

  41. Any legal consumer grade firecrackerin the US can only contain 50 mg of powder. They are made so they will not even break the skin if you were to be holding it. I hate it when the media claims that firecrackers can blow off your fingers because they cannot. The pictures here were not cause by legal consumer firecrackers. Get your facts straight. More than likely this person was either making their own explosive or purchased the firecracker outside of the US. If it was purchased in the US the retailer should be going to prison.

  42. Quote from Bob_The_Builder:

    “Also if this really happened, this guy would be rushed to the freaking hospital, he wouldn’t pose for a picture…. dumbass”

    Do you seriously think he would have been in any state to argue about having a picture taken? He would’ve been drugged up to his eye-balls! OK, even if he wasn’t (which he would’ve been) it is highly likely that the surgeons would’ve needed x-rays before starting, thus he would HAVE to “pose for a picture”.

    As for whether it was a firecracker or not…it’s just semantics people. SOMETHING explosive was in this guy’s hand when it shouldn’t have been.

  44. i saw a video of a guy blowing up a firecracker in his dick, nothing happened (Im serious)

  45. Also if this really happened, this guy would be rushed to the freaking hospital, he wouldn’t pose for a picture…. dumbass

  46. Seentheboom i have never heard of an H-100 in my life and when i did a quick google there was nothing of the sort. I was just wondering if you could give me a web address or something that explains or gives proof of what these things are.

    AS for the picture, it looks fake to me. But don’t think that real m80’s and cherry bombs can’t do stuff like that.

    As for a firecracker….no

    NOt unless it was a specially powerful firecracker with extra flash powder. If this is the case, the pictures should be labeled stating this not just saying “firecracker” because a standard blackcat firecracker, or even a more powerful firecracker just doesnt have the potential for something like this.

    Whoever posted these pictures should properly label them… you dont have to lie to get your point accross.

    but yea… a blackcat will just numb the tips of ur fingers and give u ringing.

  47. “Fake Name:

    Maybe the firecrackers you know could not do that, but those I know certainly can.

    It was a common firecracker here in Mexico called “paloma” (dove) made of newspaper and powder in there. I am not an expert in explosives but it’s true.”

    Its a good thing these aren’t in America so no worries about this one =)

    Keep those in Mexico they not class c 1.4g fireworks!

  48. Well im living proof of what can happen when your drunk and playing with fireworks.I now have one hand and a hook for the other

  50. For those who say M-80s won’t do much to you, you may or may not be right depending whether you got it from a legal or illegal source. But, personally, I wouldn’t want to take the chance.

    True M-80s and H-100s, were banned in the U.S. in 1966 by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the Child Protection Act of 1966. The ATF made them illegal in the 1970s. The original M-80 (that can be still obtained in some places) contained 2½–3 grams of flash powder. and the H-100 could have as much as 30 grams which is the amount of powder considered to be a 1/4 stick of dynamite. Both had visco fuse (cannon fuse) that was required to have a delay time of at least three seconds and burn not more than nine seconds. The fuse had it’s own oxidizer to it could also burn underwater.
    While flash powder is scientifically considered a low pressure explosive (air pressure wave slower than the speed of sound), contained, it can do a lot of explosive damage.

    Today, the M-60″, “M-70”, “M-88”, “M-90” s that you “can buy” as consumer fireworks are limited to a maximum of 50 mg (note Milligram, no GRAM) of powder (flash powder). The names are mostly a marketing gimmick. Home brewed (ie illegally made) M-80s, like moonshine, is a crap shoot. The powder may be a mixture of who knows what and the wick may not have the three second safety margin and blow up in your face.

    M-80s where originally created by the U.S. Military to simulate gun fire in the early 20th century. H-100s were used in construction to easily (notice “easily”) blast cinder blocks that were attached the cement footers during building demolition or reconstruction.

    These are the M-80s and H-100s I had as a teenager. I can personally attest to their explosive power and did not have to learn the hard way by losing any digits or appendages. While we may have been stupid for “playing” with these, Momma didn’t raise no dummies in terms of learning a healthy respect for dangerous things and keeping safety in mind.

    I have seen M-80s tear and demolish large catsup cans, garbage cans, mail type boxes, ant hills, parts of trees, and other “inanimate” objects as well as blow up underwater producing a huge air bubbles/wave on the surface. H-100’s literally tore that catsup can to pieces and sent the top flying up a hundred feet or more. In a cinder block…well, afterward, what cinder block? You can always tell someone who has been setting off H-100s besides the huge white flash, loud boom and the concussion felt in your chest. Their yard has twelve (12) inch concentric circles of bare ground where the grass has been completely blow away along with the top layer of dirt. (Dad would yell about that).

    Yes, the 1-1/2in common firecrackers will (generally) only numb your fingers for a few minutes (it will still hurt) or have your ears ringing if exploded too close. BUT, true M-80s or H-100s of old will easily take off a finger or hand or rupture an ear drum.

    For those of you stated that the picture isn’t possible…. Either you never really had ’em or some Mommas did raise a few dummies.

  51. i was 9 wen i started playin with that stuff and nothing has happend to me im 15 now ive set them off in the palm of my hand not make a fist if u make a fist thats wat happens is the pressure cant escape “boom city” good point about the pop can but its in a enclosed area but set it on the side of the can all it does is turn it black it all depends but no i wouldnt do it in my mouth and i have comon sence with them. the person that did this ethier had a real cherry bomb paloma or somthing that big or closed there hand. which is 1 reason bombers but the bombs in the buildings not outside (common sence ppl!) oh jef garry the reason y they blew up was they was INSIDE the apple in the tennis ball and again put it on the side and look all it does pieces of cardboard and its turned black were the fire cracker went off try it and see my point. oh i even made non exploding bottle rockets before cut part of the back of the firecracker then put tape over it poke a whole and light it my farthest has been about 40 feet not far but pretty good for a firecracker/ its fun to throw a bundle of bottle rockets in a fire too

  52. you shouldn’t light m-80’s and put them in metal containers. The pieces that fly out could… I knew a guy who had his face screwed up because he put an m-80 in a can.

  53. to the guy above me, im sorry but i seriously doubt you lit a quarter stick and kept it in your hand and can still use it, unless you cant, can you?

  54. Stephanie,

    Okay I just got a mental picture of that… if you have the link, post it… if you can. I can only imagine.

  55. Hey,
    No one should never light a firecracker in your hand anyways regardless of the size.
    I imagine that this person had their hand closed around it and if you think that an M-80 will not do some serious damage then try this. Put an M-80 in a pop / soda can and light the fuse then run. Let me know what it does to the can as your hand is only flesh, blood and bones.
    We here in WA and Boom City know what these things can do. I have lit M-1000’s in my hand and let me tell you, that is the most stupid thing that I have ever done. I think it comes down to what the definition of Firecracker that you are using rather then will it or will it not keep me from opening jars of peanut butter for the rest of my life. I guess if you want to have a cool hook like a Pirate you can subsitute your hand instead of the pop / soda can… Good luck with that one…

  56. That would have to be a quarter-stick or a “real” cherry bomb.

    You have hold “fake” M-80s, firecrackers, black-cat bottle rockets and “fake” cherry bombs.

    Its real easy. Blow up a steak with whatever you are thinking about holding. If the steak gets blown to bits, it may do the same to you.

    I’d say whoever held whatever it was that blew his hand off didnt test it before doing something “stupid”

    Anyways, the point is there are plenty of things you can hold in your hand and not turn it into a bloody gib-stump. But whatever he was holding wasnt a “party popper” or a fake cherry bomb, that was more like a quarter-stick or a real M-80 or a real pipe bomb.

  57. i had an email sent to me at work about two american men who played a game, the game was they put a firecracker in their mouths and lit them, who ever kept it in there mouth longest before spitting it out BEFORE it blowing up…. was the winner…. this poor man, however, did not spit it out and the picture was taken in the ER ward in hospital…. was gruesome, his whole bottom jaw was completely destroyed, just a tongue and some splattered flesh hnug, dripping with blood… if grown men are this stupid… how do we teach our children not to play with them???? it is shocking!!!

  58. Good thinking mike, lol i sure the hell wouldnt be, they’d have to give me some damn morphine or knock me out or somethen. but then again i wouldn’t be slow enough to hold a firecracker in my hand and let it explode.. i like explosives but not within 10 ft of me.. haha

  60. i agree with gary. some people who live on my street were blowing up apples and tennis balls with m-90s. i’ve even heard of people blowing up mail boxe’s with them, there’s no telling what it could do to a hand

  61. A standard firecracker, as allowed in some parts of the US, will not remove a finger! I’ve had them go off in my hand several times, they numb your fingers, that’s all. Hold it near the end and you won’t even hardly feel it. What’s with all these folks making stuff up or saying things they don’t know to be fact? Hard to believe anything else you say when you say stupid things like that.

  62. All fireworks have some danger,yet if used with good common sense can be used safely.i have used fire works for over 40 years,and have the most respect for them.I I never came close having any problems with them including m80 back in the 60s.Any one who is so foolish to hold any firecracker in the hand that is lit have no respect to themself or others.These peaple are the very few,and most of us use them with good common sense,and respect.YES a M80 will take a hand.It is like 70 standard fire crackers going off at the same time.Or 70X more powerfull then a Black cat fire cracker.A standard black cat fire cracker will take a finger off if hold tightly.No it was not a pipe bomb for the metal flack would shred his whole body.Dont be a fool,never light any boomers in hand use a punk.or some day you may not be so lucky.be safe this 4th.

  63. jonny douchbag, your a dum ass you probably have never even had m-80. you have no clue what an m-80 could do to you

  65. Pingback: Another firecracker explotion at Unbounded Medicine

  67. I think that people who set off firecrackers in their hand are stupid.
    Firecrackers containing 2 grams or more of flashpowder in a heavy cardbord wall constrution are capable of ripping your hand of for sure. Some guy`s who lost an hand, hearing or vision are used here in tv-advertisment as warning not to use/buy these illegal firecrackers.
    Here in Holland we have illegal firecrackers containing 66 grams of flashpowder.
    They are called groundsalutes, timefuse vlinders, italiaanse bom,explod and so on.
    We also had accidents with salute-rockets containing 30 grams of flashpowder.
    Don`t think a small amount of flashpowder can`t cause something like this.
    Underneat a link of a person who lost his fingers from a knalpatroon and there was an other guy was killed by the same cracker, only containing 1.75 grams of flash.

    http://www.joeyvuurwerk.cjb.net/

    http://www.vrom.nl/get.asp?file=/docs/milieu/deskundigenverklaring_pyropatronen.pdf

    So don`t underestimate the force of a small amount of flashpowder.
    It`s far more explosive as blackpowder.

  68. Yes, a couple of grams of flash powder will do a surprising amount of damage to a hand. You US kids who’ve never seen a firecracker with more than 40 milligrams of powder don’t have a feel for what crackers can be like- And those Mexican polummas are hand made, can have virtually any mix and amount of powder the maker feels like putting in them.

    Add the fact that they often have leaked powder at the fuse, and you’ve got a recipe for hand hamburger.

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  71. damn homie dats some crazy stuff!!! i always go down t mexico and light up palomas with my cusin and m-80 and i had cussins who had a paloma exploded on his hand it didnt do that like on ur pics.. why u sacring people 4 that not rite lol..

  72. omg that really nasty. like 30 seconds ago i was reading an article about a guy who built a one handed x-box controller for a soldier that came back from iraq with one arm.

  73. My grandfather taught me how to explode firecrackers in my hand. He was from a different time, what can I say? Anyway, not that I ever used anything much larger than a Black Cat, I did learn that the key was to pinch the non-wick end very hard between your thumb and forfinger, and hold the wick end away from you. It makes your fingers tingle a little, lick hitting a fastball, but otherwise seemed harmless. I doubt I would try it today, but I do remember it being a neat trick to impress my friends with.

  74. Fake Name:

    Maybe the firecrackers you know could not do that, but those I know certainly can.

    It was a common firecracker here in Mexico called “paloma” (dove) made of newspaper and powder in there. I am not an expert in explosives but it’s true.

  75. What the hell was that? a 1/2 stick of dynamite?

    A firecracker couldn’t do that.

    Hell, I’ve set firecrackers off while holding them before. Makes your ears ring, but it doesn’t hurt.

    Title your posts correctly, or at least check your info before posting. Otherwise, it’s just another scare tactic.

    Perhaps, it could have been one of the larger of the m series (like an m-80, only bigger) but it sure as hell wasn’t a firecracker.

  78. My dad (family doc) never let me have firecrackers as a kid because he’d seen too much of that. When I joined the military, I did explosives.

    Good Pictures.

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