Kite sweeps 3-year-old girl 100ft into the air in Taiwan

Strong winds in Taiwan caused giant kite to wrap around child’s waist

A three-year-old girl has survived being swept 100 feet into the air by a kite during a festival in Taiwan.

Horrified onlookers shrieked as the child was helplessly catapulted and spun around high above them after strong winds caused the giant, long-tailed orange kite to wrap around her waist at the seaside town of Nanliao, near Hsinchu City.

Video footage posted on social media on Sunday showed the child soaring in the air for some 30 seconds as a crowd of festivalgoers gathered to pull her back down to the ground to safety.

The child, identified only by the surname Lin, was frightened but suffered only minor scratches to her face and neck, according to local news reports.

She was taken to hospital and was sent home shortly after.

The fourth edition of the kite festival was cut short after the incident and Lin Chih-chien, the mayor of Hsinchu City, apologised on social media.

“We will review the reasons to avoid the recurrence of accidents, and we will take accountability,” he wrote on Facebook.

The kite the child had become entangled in was supposed to carry sweets that would be scattered from the sky for children to catch, according to Taiwan News.

Organisers said children are usually kept at a distance until the kite is airborne, but an unexpected sudden gust of wind had taken hold.