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(CNN) – A kite flying festival in Taiwan turned terrifying on Sunday when a 3-year-old girl got tangled in the tail of a giant kite and flew off into the air.
The international kite festival was held in the city of Hsinchu, south of the capital Taipei. The video of the accident, which was widely circulated on social media, shows several people preparing the large orange long-tailed kite to fly alongside a crowd of onlookers. The kite was already flapping in the strong wind.
The organizers then release the kite, and it soars, along with a little girl dangling from its tail. It is unclear how close the girl was to the kite on the ground or how she got caught in it.
The girl was in the air for about 30 seconds before she was lowered to the ground.
Screams can be heard in the video as the girl is lifted into the air, being swayed wildly by the kite and the wind. It was in the air for about 30 seconds before the kite came down low enough for audience members to grab and release it.
She was immediately rushed to the hospital with her mother and festival staff, but miraculously she only suffered minor injuries with abrasions to her face and neck, according to the Taiwan government’s Central News Agency. She has now been discharged and is at home with her family.
In a statement on Facebook, Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien apologized for the incident and said the festival was immediately suspended to ensure the safety of attendees.
“We will review the circumstances to prevent accidents like this from happening again and determine responsibilities,” he said.
The wind at the festival on Sunday afternoon was unusually strong, reaching a 7 on the Beaufort scale, meaning that wind speeds ranged from 50 to 61 kilometers per hour, according to the news agency. That’s just one level below gale-scale winds.
CNN’s Eric Cheung contributed to this report.
