The youngest victim was a two-year-old girl, killed while riding her scooter
At least six spectators were killed, including three children, after their throats were slit by out-of-control strings during an annual kite-flying festival in India.
The Tribune India reported a further that 176 people were injured from cuts and falls during the day of celebration in Gujarat, which is on the western coast of the country, on Saturday.
As the Uttarayan festival approaches, Ahmedabad's market, Raipur, and Jamalpur are decorated with Kites and Manjas.#KiteFestival #Ahmedabad #VibesofIndia pic.twitter.com/Ccc8WKuKlI
— Vibes of India (@vibesofindia_) January 10, 2023
Huge crowds had gathered to watch the spectacle in the sky as the Uttarayan festival got underway over the weekend, positioning themselves on terraces and rooftops to release their kites in the air.
The Tribune said official had reported that, in several cases, revellers used sharp strings to fly kites that ended up getting entangled around the necks of the victims and slitting them in such a way that they bled to death.
Officials from Bortalav said the kites lines slit the throats of the victims, leaving them to bleed out in front of horrified onlookers.
The youngest victim was a two-year-old girl, identified only as Kirti, who attended the Uttarayan festival in Bhavnagar city with her dad.
The toddler was riding her scooter when the kite strings became wrapped around her neck. She passed away on Sunday after being rushed to a nearby hospital.
Another young victim was three-year-old, Kismat, who was walking home with her mother in Visnagar town on Saturday when a thread slit her neck. Police said she was taken to hospital before being pronounced dead by medics.
Seven-year-old Rishabh Verma was killed as he rode home with his parents on a scooter in Rajkot.
According to police, similar incidents were reported in Vadodara, Kutch and Gandhinagar districts, where three men lost their lives when their necks were slit by kite strings while they were travelling on their motorbikes.
Swamiji Yadav, 35, died after his neck was killed while riding over a bridge. while Narendra Vaghela, 20, was killed in a similar manner in Gandhidham city of Kutch district and Ashwin Gadhvi in Kalol town of Gandhinagar, the Tribune reported.
According to data from emergency services, 130 people sustained cuts and 46 were injured after falling from a height while flying kites on Saturday and Sunday.
Road accidents also spiked, with 461 cases on January 15 and 820 on January 14, the data revealed.
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