fatal kite flying festival....

THIRTEEN people have been killed and more than 500 injured during an annual kite-flying festival in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore.

Seven people with severe head injuries died in the city's General Hospital alone, and about 220 people were admitted with a variety of injuries including broken bones, hospital officials said.

The two-day festival of Basant, marking the start of spring, began with thousands of revellers perched on rooftops.

Two teenagers were killed when they fell from a roof, and two more were killed when a car hit them while they were trying to catch a stray kite, police said.

A man was killed by a stray bullet, while another was electrocuted when metal wire used to fly a kite became draped over live electric lines.