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Six people, including three children, were killed at a kite festival in India when their throats were cut by kite strings that had been coated in powdered glass, according to multiple media reports.
Authorities in Gujarat, a state along India’s west coast, said 176 people were injured by cuts and falls during the Uttarayan festival, which took place last weekend, The Guardian is reporting.
According to reports in The Evening Standard and the Press Trust of India, two young girls and a 7-year-old boy died after kite strings became entangled around their necks, slitting their throats.
Kite flyers put the powdered glass on the strings — called manja in India — to cut the strings of their competitor’s kites, the BBC explained.
The Delhi government banned the use of sharpened manja to fly kites in 2016.
Last Friday, police in Gujarat urged those taking part in the festival not to use the manja.
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