 Seventeen people, including four children, were killed and more than 600 injured during the annual kite-flying festival of Basant in Lahore on Sunday.
| Pakistan's the only country I've ever heard of that has a corpse count associated with playing with toys... |
The two-day festival marking the start of spring began on Saturday evening with thousands of revellers perched on rooftops. The dead or injured fell victim to a variety of accidents. Some fell from rooftops, while others were electrocuted by metal wire they used to fly kites, hit by stray bullets and run over by vehicles while trying to catch stray kites. City police chief Aftab Ahmad Cheema had warned that police would take "stern action" against using metal kite strings and having gun sex firing in the air. However, the bursting of firecrackers and firing in the air continued late into the night. Lahoris danced with joy as rival kites went down amid chants of "Bo Kata." Loud drumbeats and music could be heard late into the evening. Police detained 103 people for various offences. Over the past 24 hours 600 people were admitted to hospital with a variety of injuries. Some had severe head injuries. Others had broken bones. Seventy one people were admitted to Children Hospital, 39 to Services Hospital, 65 to Mayo Hospital, 32 to General Hospital, 18 to Jinnah Hospital, 17 to Sheikh Zayed Hospital, 23 to Suriya Azeem Hospital, 43 to Ganga Ram Hospital, 26 to Ittefaq Hospital, 47 to Shalimar Hospital, 58 to Mian Munshi Hospital, and Adil Hospital and 15 to Doctors Hospital. |