Six people, including three children, have died at a festival in India after their throats were sliced open by kite strings.
Nearly 200 people were also injured due to cuts and falls while they were flying kites during mid-air duels at the Uttarayan festival in the western state of Gujarat, police said.
The six victims, including two girls aged two and three as well as a seven-year-old boy, died after the razor-sharp cords used by ‘kite fighters’ during the mid-air duels became entangled around their necks and slit their throats.
Hundreds of people had been taking part in the International Kite Festival over the weekend, with the revellers flying their kites from their terraces and rooftops during the deadly contests.
But as the revellers were flying their kites, some of the kite strings became entangled around the necks of six victims.
Kirti, a two-year-old girl, was riding on a two-wheeler in the city of Bhavnagar with her father when a kite string wrapped around her neck and sliced her throat. The toddler was rushed to hospital but died, an official told NDTV.
In another horrific incident, Kismat, aged three, was walking home with her mother in the city of Visnagar when her throat was sliced by a kite’s string.
Another child, seven-year-old Rishabh Verma was killed in front of his parents after a kite string cut his throat in the city of Rajkot.
Police said that three men – Swamiji Yadav, 35, Narendra Vaghela, 20, and Ashwin Gadhvi – were also killed in the districts of Vadodara, Kutch, and Gandhinagar in Gujarat by kite strings during the famous festival.
Officials said 130 people also suffered cuts, while another 46 were injured after falling from a height while flying their kites in the state on Saturday and Sunday January 15.
