Woman dies after hijab gets caught in go-kart axle

MELBOURNE: A woman died when the Islamic head dress she was wearing got caught in the axle of a go-kart she was driving Thursday.

The 26-year-old had been enjoying a day out with her family at the Port Stephen's Go-Kart track in New South Wales when her hijab became caught up at high speed, the Australian Associated Press reports.

Paramedics said the Sydney woman suffered severe neck injuries and went into cardiac arrest after the hijab's material tightened rapidly around her throat.

Shocked onlookers freed her from the kart and paramedics managed to revive her before she was airlifted to Newcastle's John Hunter Hospital in a critical condition. She died later.

"While she was riding somehow part of her head-dress got caught in the mechanism of the go-kart and tightened around her throat," said Port Stephens duty officer Inspector Brian Larkham.

Police said the woman and her family had been holidaying in Port Stephens. - Bernama