A youth who tried to save a black kite tangled in a string (maanja) atop a tree at Lalbagh fell from a height of 15 feet and suffered injuries on Sunday morning. The youth, Vishal G, tried to save the bird on his own though the garden authorities had already called for a fire tender, which instead had to ferry him to a hospital for treatment.
The bird was rescued by the fire personnel later. Vishal suffered a compression fracture in his vertebra and is scheduled to undergo a surgery at Sanjay Gandhi Insitute of Trauma & Orthopaedics at Jayanagar, where he was rushed to for fear of getting paralysed.
His condition is currently stable. According to Siddapura police, Vishal is a native of Bihar. He came to the city six months ago and was staying with his brother, who is a caterer, in SGN Layout. He had come to Lalbagh for a walk. On entering the gardens, he was drawn by the commotion caused by some visitors near a tree. When he approached them, he realised that a kite was trapped in the paper kite strings and needed to be saved as the badly wounded bird was struggling for life. The garden authorities had already been informed and they had called for fire personnel to save the kite.