Mumbai: Two dead, 95 injured in dahi handi celebrations

Two persons died and 95 were injured during dahi handi celebrations in Mumbai on Saturday, The Hindu reported.

Dahi handi events, part of the Hindu festival of Janmashtami that marks the birth of deity Krishna, involve groups forming human pyramids to break earthen pots filled with curd suspended from a height.

In Mankhurd, 32-year-old Jagmohan Shivkiran Chaudhari fell while tying a dahi handi rope to a window grille on the first floor of his house. He was taken to Shatabdi Hospital in Govandi, where doctors declared him dead in the afternoon.

Fourteen-year-old Rohan Mohan Valvi, a member of the Gaondevi Govinda Pathak in Andheri, collapsed while seated in a tempo van during the festivities, The Hindu reported.

Valvi, who had reportedly recently recovered from jaundice, was taken to two hospitals and declared dead at Rajawadi Hospital, Ghatkopar, at night. He had not participated in the pyramid formation, the Hindustan Times quoted an official as saying.

Of the 95 persons injured in the celebrations in Mumbai, 19 were still admitted to hospital, including two in critical condition, The Hindu reported quoting data from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Seventy-six had been discharged.

In neighbouring Thane city, 22 persons including minors were injured during the festivities, the Hindustan Times quoted Yasin Tadvi, chief of the municipal corporation’s disaster management cell, as saying.

Some of the injured were children aged between five and ten, the...

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