A three-year-old girl in Taiwan survived being launched into the air for a terrifying half-minute flight after she was ensnared in the tail of a kite at a weekend festival.

Dramatic footage captured the girl's ordeal in Hsinchu city.

Initial excited gasps of excitement as the large pink kite took flight turned to screams of horror as onlookers realised the toddler had become entangled in the tail, and taken along for the ride.

Strong wind propelled the kite for a 31-second flight as the girl bobbed and weaved in the air.

The kite eventually came down and crowds were able to free the girl unharmed.

Hsinchu mayor Lin Chih-chien said the girl suffered some scratches to her face and was terrified by the ordeal, but otherwise unharmed.  

"The city government expresses its deepest apologies to the girl and the public," he said on Facebook.

Footage of the incident quickly went viral.  

"Everybody at the scene was almost scared to death. It really just happened in a blink of an eye," wrote one blogger, who goes the name Via, in a Facebook post featuring a video of the accident that had over 1.61 million viewings. 

A 34-year-old man, identified by his family name Lin, told the Apple Daily that he helped reel the girl back to land when the kite's tail dipped low enough. 

"At first I thought it's some kind of a stunt show... then I just thought (we) can't let the kid fall," he said.