20 killed in kites flying festival in Pakistan

China Daily ^ | 2005-02-07

[traumer]

At least 17 people including eight children lost their lives and more than 500 injured while celebrating Basant or kites flying festival Sunday in Lahore, capital of eastern Punjab province, taking the death toll to 20 as three people were killed on Basant night, The Nation reported Monday.

Seven persons were crushed to death while trying to catch stray kites, six others died after falling from rooftop of their houses, two teenage boys died after being hit by stray bullets in two different incidents, while a 7-years old boy was electrocuted and a four years-old girl was killed when a stray string slit open her throat.

Rescue officials said they picked up at least 24 patients whose throats were cut by twine at different roads and shifted them to hospitals.

Throughout the day, the city remained echoing with aerial firing and fireworks and peaked at the sunset.

Sunday's killing of 17 persons took the death toll to 20 in the night-and-day festival this year. Last year too, as many as 20 persons were killed in Lahore while celebrating the yearly Basant.

[traumer]

Participants and onlookers look up at Lahore's sky littered with hundreds of colorful kites during the kite flying festival, Basant, Sunday, Feb. 6, 2005, in Lahore, Pakistan. Pakistanis celebrate Basant festival by flying different kinds of kites, wearing colorful dresses, dancing and preparing special dishes for visitors to welcome spring, while tight security on the ground guarded against threats from hard-liners who condemn the revelry as un-Islamic. [AP]

[traumer]

Mohammad Asharf, front, who was seriously injured when specially reinforced kite string cut his throat while he was riding on a motorbike, is attended by his brother at a local hospital in Lahore, Pakistan on Sunday, Feb. 6, 2005.

[conservativecorner]

I know I shouldn't but ROFLMAO. Are these people completely insane? It's a freakin kite for God's sake.

[traumer]

:o) ......

[gimmebackmyconstitution]

Just remember, Kites don't kill people kill people.
OR: Ted Kennedy's car has killed more people than my guns or my kites....

[Publius6961]

Ted Kennedy's car? How is that possible?
Cars didn't have a mind of their own until the introduction of the SUV!

Should be: Ted Kennedy has killed more people than Nuclear Power plants in the U.S.

[gimmebackmyconstitution]

Ted Kennedy has killed more environmentally friendly power generating windmills on Cape Cod than:
1) All the nuclear power plants in the US combined
2)The Chappaquiddick Fire Rescue Dive Team members
3)Responsible kite owners
4)People who drive and use cell phones cautiously
5)People who vote only once in an election

[hemi dawg]

ok, maybe it is true.
Muslim countries are simply not ready for democracy...and may never be.

[JusPasenThru]

Just remember, Kites don't kill people kill people.

They can take my kite when they peel my cold dead fingers off the spool of string.

[austinmark]

WHAT ? ................. These guy's cant even pull-off a Kite Flying contest WITHOUT loss of life OR limb ???

In the Name of all that is Good & Holy,- DON'T let them organize a City-wide, "neighborhood B.B.Q."

[austinmark]

HaHAhahaHAHAhahahah.....

[bayourod]

When kites are outlawed, only outlaws will have kites.

[SquirrelKing]

Good grief!

[laweeks]

And just how is this going to be linked to George W. Bush? Professor Churchill, call your office.

[festus]

Pakistan, where Monty Python gets its source material.

[festus]

I wonder if Mr. Murray could shed some light on this.....

[Guillermo]

No wonder why the Taliban outlawed kite-flying ;)

[traumer]

If only this was also Bin Laden's hobby... :o)

[sam_paine]

Scrappleface? Onion? Islam? Anyone? Bueller?