Muscat: The first two days of the World Fireworks Championship in Muscat lit up the skies above the Qurum Nature Park, but at the same time gridlock extended to several kilometres on all roads with people spending three to four hours in the vehicles.
Although no untoward incident was reported due to the traffic jams all around Muscat, Poonam Rudradatt, a school teacher, told Gulf News "I have never seen traffic jam like this in my last 20 years in Oman".
"I shudder at a thought if someone had medical emergency what would have happened?" she asked. According to her there was no way someone could have made their way to hospital.
"There was chaos on the first day, so we decided against going on the second day," she said, hoping that traffic management would improve. “Even motorist must understand and avoid stopping wherever they are to look at the fireworks.”
A senior doctor said that his colleague almost missed his flight. “I was going to drop him at the airport but we were stuck at one place for more than 90 minutes. However, we had started much earlier in anticipation of the rush,” said the doctor, preferring anonymity.
The fireworks were never seen before in Muscat as six international companies vied for the World title.
The Hong Kong-based Vulcan, which was founded in China in 1974, kicked off the championship with their world-renowned pyrotechnic displays. With 88 years in the business, and four generations worth of talent, the Australian favourites Howard & Sons, showed why they are considered one of the best in the world with a spectacular 30-minute display on Tuesday night.
British giants Merlin Fireworks will try to impress a panel of expert judges and the huge crowds on Friday.
With over 100 years experience in producing large-scale fireworks displays between them, the international panel of expert pyrotechnic judges will decide the World Champion for the solid gold trophy, the design of the which is influenced by the host city taking part.
Briton Andrew Fielder will chair the panel of judges. The other judges are Vicente Caballer Ramirez (Spain), Anthony Busuttil (Malta), and David Weimer (Germany).
The World Fireworks Championship is one of the largest pyrotechnic competitions in the world. The competition takes place annually over three weeks in December and features separate fireworks displays from six international pyrotechnic production companies.
Competitors come from all over the globe, with participating teams providing a 25 minute long 'pyromusical' show that is synchronized to music, which is simultaneously broadcast on the Oman’s Hi FM station.
“We were stuck on the roadside when the fireworks started but the music broadcast on Hi FM brought the whole show to our car door,” said Tasha D’silva, Muscat International School pupil, told Gulf News.
