14 people killed and 200 injured at annual kite flying festival

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2007/February/subcontinent_February986.xml§ion=subcontinent

Protests after 14 die in Pakistan kite festival
(AFP)

26 February 2007


LAHORE, Pakistan - Islamic groups staged protests on Monday after 14 people, including a child, were killed and 200 injured during an annual kite flying festival in central Pakistan.

The seven-year-old boy died when an illegal kite string coated in broken glass slashed his throat during the Basant festival near Lahore, local police officer Ahmed Hasan said.

Stray bullets fired in the air killed four people, six kite flyers fell to their deaths from rooftops and a young man died in a brawl, Hasan added.

Another two men were electrocuted after the metal rods they were using to catch stray kites caught on power lines, officials in Lahore added.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. That's what happens...

when you hire Hell's Angels to take care of security.

[AlCzervik]

2. why would a kite string be coated with broken glass?

[donco6]

4. I can't imagine what that's about.

??? :shrug:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

5. its a kite flying game they play in india

if the string has a glass coat you can cut off other kite strings with it.

the more you cut off the easier it is to win

[AlCzervik]

8. thank you.

:hi:

[Little Wing]

6. They have kite fights, the glass in the string is used to cut the ropes of other flyers

[AlCzervik]

9. thank you.

:hi:

[Lefty-Taylor]

13. This is an old tradition and the book "The Kite Runner" gets into it

Kite fighting is huge in that part of the world.

BTW, I highly recommend the book.

[teriyaki jones]

21. I concur on recommending Kite Runner

That book will help you understand the whole Sunni-Shia thing, and it's a painful but wonderful read.

[sam sarrha]

20. Psychopaths do the darnest things..

[malaise]

26. Kite wars are common across the globe

at this time of year. Older boys and men cut up other kites by having glass or razor blades on their kite tail. This crap happens every year in Pakistan and in other parts of the world.
Additionaly people continue to fly kites in aras with electric poles and that's instant death.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

3. i thought it would be in india.

so weird.

[tabasco]

7. Morons firing weapons in the air.

Those bullets do come down, geniuses.

[MonkeyFunk]

10. It's all fun and games

until someone loses a head.

[SoCalDem]

11. I never realized that kite-flying was a full-contact death-sport

:grr:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

12. I Don't Believe This Article Is For Real. I'm Stunned Beyond Words.

[Bucky]

15. I don't think it all happened in one park in one afternoon

It's not like they were playing against an English soccer team.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. Yeah...

sounds like a major festival over a while replete with drinking and brawling and revelry and all sorts of silliness.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

18. And That Makes This Any Less Stunning How????

I'm stunned by the article no matter what the time frame was. I woulda sworn the thread was going to be some satirical joke. It wasn't. I'm stunned at that.

Furthermore, based on the article I see no reason to believe that it didn't happen over the course of a day or two, so I'm not sure where your surmising otherwise.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

19. Because...

when you get a lot of people together at a big festival, accidents are bound to happen.

For example, the Who concert were eleven people got crushed to death.

[muriel_volestrangler]

27. 2 days, 1 province

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6396727.stm

And they had 9 killed the last time they held it, 3 years ago.

[Bucky]

14. Well, next time someone tells me to go fly a kite...

I'll know they mean business.

[eppur_se_muova]

17. This sparked a PROTEST by ISLAMIC groups! But ... but ...

Aren't all Muslims savage, bloodthirsty barbarians? Don't they ENJOY killing people? Head ... about ... to ... explode ...




















Oh, yeah. :sarcasm:
(So sad that this might be necessary.)

[sam sarrha]

23. so if the Jonjweed were flying kites instead of bashing in the heads of Muslim babies..?? they might

do something about Darfur..??

[KansDem]

22. And to think when I was a kid a flying kites, my biggest concern...

...was getting them stuck in tress and telephone wires.

But I never thought it could get this ugly...

[Poiuyt]

24. Dick Cheney was in Pakistan today

Coincidence? I think not.

[Ian David]

25. That's a pretty low body count compared to 4th of July Weekend in America, isn't it?

Between the fireworks and drunk driving during an American July 4th weekend... 14 dead and 200 injured in a country the size of Pakistan sounds downright tame.

[Ian David]

28. Photos from kite flying festival (Via Wired News)

Killer Kites

By Jeff Koyen

LAHORE, Pakistan -- It's Sunday, Feb. 25, and just a few miles away, Pakistan's President General Pervez Musharraf is said to be flying a kite. Today is Basant, an ancient festival in which Pakistan's people welcome spring's arrival. The most important Basant celebration is held here in Lahore, a city of 10 million in the Punjab region near the India-Pakistan border.



For as long as anyone can remember, Basant has been celebrated with kites.

But not just any kites. Using glass-encrusted string, kite flyers battle each other high above the city streets. As they say, what goes up must come down -- each year, dozens are killed by the falling string or celebratory gunfire shot into the air. For safety's sake, Pakistan¹s Supreme Court imposed a nationwide ban on all kite flying in 2005. But like most Pakistanis, Musharaf is an avid kite flyer. At his request, the local Punjabi government lifted the ban but only for this weekend. At least 11 people died and 100 were hurt during the two celebrations, according to the Associated Press.

Saturday night, Basant eve, and the kiters prepare. Khalid displays a standard spool of glass-encrusted string he will use tomorrow. This is the legal stuff. Illegal string may be chemically treated to "cut like a sword," or even spun with metal. The Nation has already reported one death by electrocution when a child grabbed a length of metallic string that had crossed a power line.

More:
http://blog.wired.com/wiredphotos50/