Remember several years back when we (“we” being the United States) got word that the Taliban and/or other radical Islamic groups had outlawed kite flying? And how ridiculous we thought that was? Turns out that the kite flying methods they have in that part of the world isn’t the “let’s get this thing as high up in the air as we can” kind of fun that I remember as a kid:
Pakistan: 11 dead, 100 injured in kite flying festival
At least 11 people died and more than 100 people were injured at an annual spring festival in eastern Pakistan celebrated with the flying of thousands of colourful kites…
The festival is regularly marred by casualties caused by sharp kite strings or celebratory gunshots fired into the air. Kite flyers often use strings made of wire or coated with ground glass to try to cross and cut a rival’s string or damage the other kite, often after betting on the outcome.
