Hyderabad: Four, including soldier, die in kite-flying incidents

Hyderabad: The Festival of Kites turned deadly this year as kite-flying enthusiasts in the city used banned Chinese ‘manja’ to disable their opponent’s kites. Four people, including an army officer. lost their lives in different incidents in the last two days.

In Langer Houz, an army soldier (Naik) died after he got entangled with Chinese manja which slit his throat. Koteswara Rao (30) of PeddaWaltair in Visakhapatnam was working in the military hospital. After finishing work on Saturday, he was heading to his house in Bapunagar on a two-wheeler when his throat got severely cut on the local flyover.

According to the police, the soldier fell unconscious and was taken to the local military hospital. The doctors said Rao died while undergoing treatment. The police have registered a case under Section 304, citing culpable homicide not amounting to murder. “Koteswar sustained a deep cut on his neck and collapsed on road. He was rushed to the hospital where he died, said CI J Niranjan Rao.

Three more, including two children, lost lives while flying a kite. In the first incident, Tanishq (11) of Attapur died due to electrocution while flying a kite. He was lying a kite on the rooftop of an apartment along with friends. According to the police, he came in contact with high-tension wires and died on the spot. The police booked a case of negligence against the apartment owners.

In the second incident, Shiva Kumar (13), a student at government school in Nagole, fell off the terrace of a four-storey building while flying a kite. He fell on the asbestos roof of an adjoining house and suffered grievous injuries. He was taken to a private hospital, where he succumbed on Saturday night. In another incident in Alwal, Akash (20), who was working as ASI in the local police station, died after he accidently tripped from the top of a building while flying a kite. On receiving information, the Petbasheerabad police registered a case and started investigation.

Meanwhile, Musharraf Ali Faruqui, chairman and managing director, Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Ltd has advised people not to fly kites near electricity installations, saying metal-coated ‘manja’ thread may cause electrocution and tripping of supply network.

He urged people to “only use cotton, linen or nylon string. Never use metallic thread or metal-reinforced string; metal coated thread (manja) is a good conductor of electricity and may cause electric shock when it touches/comes close to an electric line,” he said.