PEOPLE ran in fear from malfunctioning fireworks that were shot into the crowd at a bonfire night event on Saturday. 

Emergency services were called to an Amesbury hotel's bonfire night celebrations on Saturday night after fireworks malfunctioned and fired into the crowd. 

In a Facebook post that was later deleted, the Antrobus Hotel in Amesbury said their fireworks event had been cancelled due to a "malfunctioning firework".

A spokesman for South Western Ambulance Trust said 14 people were treated by paramedics at the scene, but none were taken to hospital. 

Rhiannon Hill, who was attending the event with her children, her partner and his daughter, was at the front of the crowd.

She said: "The fireworks started and one went off to the right, then it all just got scary.

"One just came straight at us and hit my daughter on the back, it then bounced off her and into the face of another girl.

"Everyone started screaming and turned to run but there was nowhere to go.

"We ran around the side of the tent and hid in the corner.

"Everyone was crying. My daughter's scarf and coat were burnt.

"As we were making our way out of the hotel we could hear people asking for the management, only to be ignored - instead of tending to the petrified crying children, staff simply carried on serving alcohol.

"My 10-year-old son has only just calmed down and has sworn to never go to a fireworks display again."

Rhiannon said visitors were not given a fire briefing before the event or informed where emergency exits were. 

Salisbury Journal:

Rachael Tomlinson sent in this picture of her injuries after the fireworks shot towards her. 

A spokesman for the Antrobus Hotel said they were "mortified" by the incident. 

"A single display box, containing multiple firewords, malfunctioned at today's display," he said in a statement.

"Regrettably, despite the safety cordon exceeding the manufacturer's guidelines, some projectiles ejected towards the crowd line."

The hotel said a full investigation into the incident will now take place,  and denied claims made on social media that the hotel's fire exits were locked and that staff had been seen drinking at the event

One woman, who preferred to remain anonymous, told the Journal: "I knew something was going to go wrong, and as the fireworks started flying towards the gazebo I grabbed nearby people and ran into a corner.

"Fireworks repeatedly flew into the gazebo and could have easily set it alight."

Becs Goodchild, on Facebook, said it was an "absolutely horrendous ordeal" and "made worse by the Antrobus not handling the case and denying people are injured or affected."

She said there were "multiple fireworks going off into the crowd".

Katie Millward said: "One firework went into the sky as planned, and after that it was carnage."

Dawn Kennedy said her son was "knocked down and almost trampled" after the incident. 

"I managed to pull him to his feet and hold on to him" she said.

"We weren't notified of the fire exits and the patio doors into the pub were locked.

"There were too many people allowed into the venue and it was overcrowded. People had to use their own initiative and attempt to get into the lobby to make their way out of the hotel."

The hotel said: "Our staff are working with the services to ensure that everyone at the event is okay. Thankfully there do not appear to have been any serious injuries at this stage."

The venue offered its "sincerest apologies" and said: "We do our utmost to ensure incidents like this do not happen and our thoughts are with everyone affected."

A spokesman for Wiltshire Police said they were called to the scene at about 8.10pm, to reports of fireworks in the crowd.

Fire crews and ambulances were also in attendance and a police spokesman said it was "a relatively minor incident".