In today's West Australian newspaper there is an article about someone being hit by a kite near Safety Bay and is in hospital as we speak.
Anyone know what happened, was it just a kids kite or one of our kites?
"a 17 year old Secret Harbour boy who was impaled in the eye by a kite... part of the kite smashed through his left eye socket to his brain as he walked home from soccer trials..."
Sounds like a toy or stunt kite, not too many of out kites would have components that could impale like that.
It was in a park, and he was impaled through the eye socket. Sounds like a toy kite to me. He's pretty unlucky (lucky if you consider his eyeball is still intact I guess)
Found this online:
"A promising teenage soccer player was impaled through the eye by a kite being flown by a stranger in a freak accident as he walked home from soccer trials.
Iain Carmichael spent his 17th birthday on November 28 in the intensive care unit of Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. On that day he woke from life support - a birthday present for which his family will be for ever thankful.
It certainly was not the present they were expecting two weeks ago when Iain, walking home from soccer trials in Secret Harbour, had a kite smash through his eye socket to his brain.
The family flying the kite rushed to help the teenager, who was instantly paralysed.
Iain was taken to Fremantle Hospital before being transferred to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital for specialist treatment. His eye miraculously appears to have suffered little damage but his family are anxiously waiting to see whether a grey patch on Iain's latest brain scans will bring good or bad news.
"The first few days in intensive care, we were just wrecked," his dad Robert Carmichael said.
"We just didn't know what damage had been done and now he's had a few brain scans but it's still a waiting game.
"They don't know if this grey patch is hiding behind the bleeding or it's just reappeared. It could be either brain cells repairing themselves or dead brain cells, we won't know until the next scan."
The right side of Iain's body remains paralysed but he has been able to give his family the odd smile and a few words.
Mr Carmichael said he hoped his son's strong fitness levels would work to his advantage as he continues to recover and was proud of what his son had achieved.
"He's fit and he's healthy and I'm glad he's done all that training to make himself strong," Mr Carmichael said.
The 17-year-old, who moved from Scotland to Perth with his family four years ago, graduated recently from Safety Bay Senior High School and was looking forward to pursuing to play soccer professionally.
A star player for Mandurah FC and his school's acclaimed soccer academy, he recently won the school's best and fairest player for the year and had interest from American colleges about soccer scholarship opportunities when he turned 18.
As a member of Football Tech's elite academy he was picked to travel to Brazil to train with Desportivo in 2010.
Iain was also toying with the idea of going back to Scotland to do further training ahead of possibly moving to America.
"He's a remarkable kid . . . there's a long way to go but we're very delighted about the progress he's making," Mr Carmichael said."
thats a sad story and unrelated to my question but;
Do the public know how dangerous kites, more specifically kitesurfing kites are?
So often I will be going about my launching and landing and people will show up on the beach and stand straight downwind of where the kite is.
I was talking to one person on the beach once and he randomly grabs the bar and sends the kite, boosting me half a football field down the beach...
Also I've seen people setup and fly trainer kites on packed suburban beaches, beginners crashing the kite amongst the sunbathers. Common sense???
Exactly Stamp!
Surfingboye - you are responsible for your own actions, not jo public.
That's the problem with a lot of kiters they think the public should know - they don't and YOU are the idiot if you kite near people. No matter what they do, you are liable for the damage your kite is involved in regardless of the actions of the public. You are assumed guilty.
Our kites could be likened to a gun.....you'd never stand in front of one, But the public doesnt know what is the safe end.
