KALAMATA, Greece – Seven people were arrested in the Peloponnesian town of Kalamata, including a municipal official, after the death of a cameraman hit on the head by a stray flare being tossed as part of an annual Easter ritual that keeps being held despite the danger.

Six of the suspects were waving flares and the official was responsible for organizing the event, said media reports, including the Athens News Agency. They were due to appear before a magistrate on April 29.

Costas Theodorakakis, 53, had been filming the event for about 20 minutes when a stray flare hit him on the head, the director of a local hospital told state news agency ANA-MPA. Despite the doctors’ efforts to save him, he died shortly afterward.

The deadly accident happened around 9.15 p.m. at an event that draws people in a number of different areas, including on the island of Chios where residents toss flares at each other to celebrate Easter, although officials have tried to scale it down and as police keep arresting people for making homemade explosives.