One dies, over 100 injured during Uttarayan in Gujarat

Ahmedabad, Jan 14 (PTI) One person died and over 100,including a German, were injured due to cut from sharp stringsused for kite flying or fall from roof-tops and terracesduring Uttarayan festival across Gujarat today.

One Dhruv Chauhan (17) died after falling off thethird floor of a residential complex in Maodasa town ofSabarkantha district while flying kite, police said.

A German national, Yohan Flake, working as a volunteerat a primary school in Bavla taluka run by the Blind People''sAssociation (BPA), fell from the second floor of a buildingwhile flying kite. He suffered injuries on head and otherparts of the body, officials of 108 Emergency Response Service(ERS) said.

Flake, working with the school since the last 3-4months, was admitted at the Sterling Hospital here and isunder intensive care, they said.

According to them, there were 46 cases of cuts onthroat and cheeks due to kite flying thread ''manja'', a stringcoated with mixture of glue and glass powder, making it razorsharp.

As many as 64 cases of people falling from roof-topsor terraces while flying kite were reported from differentparts of the city, they said.

Also, there were 27 cases of assault during minorclashes in Krishnanagar, Bapunagar and other parts of the cityover issues related to kites.

In Rajkot, seven cases of cut due to ''manja'' werereported, while the number of such incident was five in Surat.

Uttarayan is a harvest festival where kite flying is atradition.