6 killed, 176 injured in kite flying incidents during Uttarayan festival in Gujarat
Ahmedabad, January 16
At least six persons, among them three children, were killed after their necks were slit by kite strings and 176 were injured due to cuts and falls while flying kites during Uttarayan festival in Gujarat, police said on Monday.
The incidents were reported over the weekend when people came out in large numbers to fly kites on terraces and rooftops during the festivities.
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 said.
A kite string cut the neck of two-year-old Kirti who was riding with her father on his two-wheeler in Bhavnagar city, and she died during treatment at a hospital on Sunday, an official from Bortalav police station said.
In another incident, Kismat, 3, was walking home with her mother in Visnagar town on Saturday when a thread slit her neck. The girl was rushed to a hospital, where doctors declared her dead, a Visnagar police official said.
Similarly, seven-year-old Rishabh Verma was riding with his parents on a two-wheeler after buying a kite when his neck was slit by a string in Rakjot, an official from Aji Dam police station said.
According to the 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 two-wheelers.
Swamiji Yadav, 35, died after his neck was slit by a thread while he was riding his two-wheeler on a bridge, while Narendra Vaghela, 20, was killed in a similar manner in Gandhidham city of Kutch district, Ashwin Gadhvi in Kalol town of Gandhinagar, they said.
As per the data compiled by 108-EMS emergency ambulance service, a total 130 people sustained cuts and 46 were injured after falling from a height while flying kites on Saturday and Sunday.
There was also a spurt in the number of road accidents, with 461 cases on January 15 and 820 on January 14, the data revealed.
Among districts, Ahmedabad recorded the highest number of 59 cases of kite string injuries and 10 cases of falls, the 108-EMS stated in a release.
