Stray manja injures techie weeks before Sankranti, emergency surgery saves his life in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Manja-related injuries have begun in Hyderabad well before the Sankranti season, raising concern among commuters and enforcement agencies.

Karthik, a software engineer from Gurramguda, was seriously injured on Friday when a stray glass-coated kite string slashed through his neck while he was travelling towards Nagole on his motorbike.

Stray manja aready appearing on city roads

Although Sankranti is over a month away, kite strings have already started drifting across major roads especially near flyovers and open grounds where kite flying has quietly picked up.

According to experts, the problem intensifies when kites fall, leaving loose manja hanging across traffic paths. The high-tension, glass-coated thread can cause severe cuts even at low speeds, posing danger to riders despite helmets.

Karthik recalled the moment the thread tightened around his neck “was riding with my fiancée towards Nagole at hardly 40 kmph when I felt a sharp cut on my neck. When I put my hand inside the helmet, I saw the manja stuck there. It had also cut my fingers.”

He immediately pulled over, only to find his neck covered in blood.

“When I touched my neck, my hand was full of blood,” he said.

A chance encounter that saved a life

The person who rushed him to hospital happened to be a doctor from the same hospital, though Karthik did not know this at the time.

“A doctor passing by noticed me, gave me his handkerchief to press on the wound, and tried stopping several autos, but none stopped. So he took me on his own bike to Kamineni Hospital. Only later did I realise he was a doctor there,” Karthik said.

He also warned that such incidents occurring even before Sankranti signalled serious risk to the public.

“If these accidents are happening even before Sankranti, it’s extremely dangerous for everyone using the roads.” He said.

At the hospital: Emergency surgery within minutes

Once brought to Kamineni Hospital, Karthik was attended to by Consultant Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgeon Dr. Rishith Battini, who explained the nature of the injury.

Karthik had been riding over the Kamineni flyover when the thread cut into the exposed section of his neck despite the protection of a helmet. The manja tore through neck muscles and severed the upper blood vessels. Heavy bleeding had already started, though deeper major vessels and the airway remained intact.

Dr. Rishith said the team moved quickly when initial attempts to control the bleeding were not fully successful.

“When he was brought to the emergency room, our first attempt was to control the bleeding, which was not fully successful. We quickly decided to shift him to surgery. Within 30 minutes, we began the procedure and successfully reattached the severed blood vessels and repaired the muscle.”

He added that the patient had also suffered cuts on his fingers while trying to remove the thread, and his fiancée had minor injuries near her neck and eye.

Doctors warn of more incidents if controls don’t tighten

With kite-flying already visible across the city, Dr. Rishith said stricter enforcement is needed immediately.

“Glass-coated manja is extremely dangerous. Authorities must enforce strict control immediately, otherwise more life-threatening incidents are likely.”

The surgery was performed by a team including Junior Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon Dr. Syed Mazhar Ali, Chief Cardiac Anaesthetist Dr. Suresh Kumar, and Consultant Anaesthetist Dr. Ravali Sade.

A Renewed Call for Action

The incident highlights a recurring challenge for Hyderabad during the Sankranti season: preventing dangerous manja from entering public spaces. With injuries already being reported before the festival formally begins, doctors, commuters, and local residents say stronger measures are needed, ranging from bans on glass-coated strings to coordinated enforcement across markets and neighbourhoods.

For now, Karthik’s case stands as a reminder of how a seemingly invisible thread can turn any routine ride into a medical emergency.