On Monday (16 Jan), police in Gujarat, India, revealed that kite strings from a festival had killed six victims, with 176 more injured.
Of the six deceased, three were children. Their throats were slit by the kite strings, the statement added.
The incidents occurred over 14 and 15 Jan, when people came out in droves to fly kites on terraces and rooftops for the occasion.
According to NDTV, the incidents occurred during the Uttarayan festival in Gujarat, India – otherwise known as the International Kite Festival.
Source: Oyo
People turned up for the event in large numbers, flying kites on their terraces and rooftops.
Several of them had allegedly used sharp strings for the kites, which ended up getting entangled around victims’ necks, cutting them. Some cases led to injuries, while others resulted in deaths.
Source: Indian Express
One such victim was two-year-old Kirti, who was riding with her father on a two-wheeler in the city of Bhavnagar.
She passed away during treatment at a hospital on 15 Jan, according to a police official.
Seven-year-old Rishabh Verma was also riding with his parents on a two-wheeler after purchasing a kite.
His neck was then slit by a string in Rakjot.
Another incident involved three-year-old Kismat who was walking home with her mother in the town of Visnagar on 14 Jan.
A kite string slit her neck and she was rushed to a hospital. Unfortunately, medical staff pronounced her dead.
NDTV reports that similar tragedies involving kite strings occurred in the Vadodara, Kutch and Gandhinagar districts of Gujarat.
35-year-old Swamiji Yadav passed away after he sustained a slash to his neck by a thread while he was on his two-wheeler on a bridge.
Two other victims, Narendra Vaghela and Ashwin Gadhvi, died in a similar manner.
In total, 130 people suffered cuts and 46 others sustained injuries after falling from a height while flying kites during the weekend.
There was apparently also an increase in road accidents, with 461 on 15 Jan and 820 on 14 Jan. The district of Ahmedabad recorded the most cases for kite string injuries and falls, with 59 and 10 respectively.
Common causes of kite-flying incidents in India include glass-coated kite strings, Indian Express reports. Comprising nylon threads sometimes coated in powdered glass, they often fatally injure birds and people.
Prior to the festival, authorities cracked down on the sale of such lethal strings by conducting raids to seize them.
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Featured image adapted from @narendramodi on Twitter.
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