Six people including children lost their lives after their throats were accidentally slit by glass-coated kite strings

Six people, including three children, lost their lives after their throats were accidentally slit by glass-coated kite strings during India’s annual kite-flying festival. Hundreds of people flocked to rooftops and terraces to fly their kites during the Uttarayan festival in India’s western state of Gujarat during the weekend.

As per reports, the victims bled to death after their necks got entangled in razor-sharp kite strings, officials said Indian news agency Press Trust of India (PTI). Around 176 people suffered injuries due to cuts from strings or because they fell.

A few participants coat the strings of their kite with powdered glass so that the cords of the opponent can be sliced in the air. The practice was banned in 2016, however, critics claim that it is rarely enforced.

A two-year-old girl lost her life when her neck was cut by a kite string while she was on a scooter with her father, said an official from Bortalav police station, as cited by the PTI.