THE city council is today launching a full investigation into the fireworks accident that marred the Salisbury Christmas lights switch-on last night.

A spokesman for Salisbury City Council said: “During the firework element of the event, at approximately 7.05pm, it would appear that a firework malfunctioned.

“This resulted in debris falling to the ground mainly in Queen Street and New Canal.

“The council apologises for any distress this incident has caused and are currently carrying out a full and thorough investigation with all those involved.”

St John Ambulance volunteers treated eight casualties following last night’s incident.

Two were advised to take themselves to hospital, while another was taken to hospital by ambulance.

There were no life-threatening injuries.

The charity’s regional events manager, Des Young, was at the event and said: “Our volunteers did an excellent job of treating eight casualties – their experience and expertise in first aid shone through.

“As with previous events like this in Salisbury, we were asked to provide first aiders and more volunteers stepped up to join the event than were required.

“We had an ambulance with a crew of two, plus seven volunteers on foot, so we were in a very strong position to look after people who were injured, following this unfortunate incident.

“I would like to thank all of them for keeping cool heads under pressure and showing the highest standards of patient care throughout.”

Volunteers set up a triage centre at the ambulance and used Salisbury’s Guildhall as a temporary base to take care of casualties.