Egyptian authorities have launched an investigation after a hot air balloon crashed 1,000 feet to the ground, killing 19 tourists who had taken a sunrise flight near the ancient city of Luxor.
Witnesses described seeing people leaping out of the balloon as it was on fire. The casualties included British, French, Belgian, Hungarian and Japanese nationals and nine tourists from Hong Kong, the Luxor governor, Ezzat Saad, told reporters.
Yvonne Rennie, from Perth in Scotland, died and her husband Michael was being treated in hospital in Luxor, where he was said to be in a stable condition.
Another Briton, Joe Bampton, 40, and his Hungarian-born girlfriend Suzanna Gyetvai, 34, were among those who died in the crash, in what appears to be the worst hot air balloon disaster on record.
A British tourist and the Egyptian pilot, named locally as Momin Mourad Ali, who survived with 70% burns, were the only people to have survived.
The balloon is believed to have caught fire as it was coming in to land at about 7am on Tuesday. The pilot and a British passenger jumped out, before the ballon ascended swiftly. Flames spread quickly and ignited a gas canister, which exploded.
The balloon then plunged 1,000 feet into into a sugar cane field west of Luxor, which is 320 miles (510km) south of the capital, Cairo.
The tragedy is thought to be the world's worst ballooning accident. It dealt a fresh blow to Egypt's tourism industry, which is reeling after two years of political unrest since protests that led to the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We can confirm the tragic deaths of two British nationals and one British resident following a hot air balloon crash in Luxor, Egypt earlier today.
(more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/26/luxor-hot-air-balloon-crash-kills-tourists)