Children are often told not to take candies from strangers; a little girl in Taiwan learned the hard way to stay away from giant kites filled with sweets.
Over the weekend, hundreds gathered for the annual kite festival in the seaside town of Nanlioa.
The International Kite Festival draws people from all over the country who come to either fly enormous kites or enjoy the view of the colorful and intricate designs of the heavier-than-air craft.
It is believed that kites were invented in China around 5th-century BC, which would explain why there are so many passionate kite flyers in Asia.
A terrible incident took place during the festival. A three-year-old child was caught on video being lifted into the air and carried away after getting entangled in the enormous kite.
The child, who has been identified by her last name, Lin, was attempting to get some of the candies hidden inside the kite.
In the shocking video, festival-goers were first delighted to see the kite take flight, but upon realizing that a child was clinging on to dear life to the tail, loud screams could be heard.
After being tossed around several times, the child was caught by a group of people. According to organizers, the girl is doing fine and only suffered minor cuts to her face.
The girl, who weighs just 28 pounds, was carried away 100 feet in the air by winds reaching speeds between 32 to 38 miles per hour, according to local media outlets.
Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien issued an apology for the bizarre incident and explained that an investigation has been launched into the matter.
The politician revealed: “We will review the circumstances to prevent accidents like this from happening again and hold people accountable.”
Secretary-general of the Asian Kite Forum Chen Ko-fang said that something went wrong because children are normally kept away from the kite that is used to drop candy from the sky.
The annual festival has been canceled because of the incident. People, who have seen the video, are happy that the child was not seriously injured.
A well-wisher said this: “2020 really doing whatever tf it wants to. This looks unreal! Glad the child was saved. ??”
Another person wrote: “Wow. How the hell did this happen in the first place?!? Thank God he’s okay now.”
It is clear that the incident will bring more awareness to the need for these events to be more mindful of the presence of young people.
