Fiery crash of hot-air balloon kills 16 in central Texas
JUL 30, 2016
AUSTIN, Texas (REUTERS) – A hot-air balloon burst into flames over central Texas on Saturday (July 30) after apparently striking power lines and plunged into a field, killing all 16 people aboard in one of the deadliest such accidents on record, police and eyewitnesses said.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the fiery crash occurred at about 7.40am (8.40pm Singapore time) near Lockhart, a town about 50km south of Austin, the Texas capital.
The Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office said 16 people were believed to have been aboard the balloon and that there were no survivors. The Texas Department of Public Safety also confirmed that 16 people were dead.
Emergency responders in Texas said the basket portion of the hot-air balloon, which carries the passenger and crew, had caught fire.
Aerial television footage from the aftermath of the accident showed remnants of the red, white and blue balloon, adorned with a large, yellow smiley face wearing sunglasses, lying flattened at the crash site.
The National Transportation Safety Board offered no details on what may have caused the accident, which occurred on a clear day. But a spokesman at the scene said teams from that agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were being dispatched to help in evidence-gathering.
The spokesman said the balloon probably belonged to a tour group that offers rides to paying passengers.
Margaret Wylie, an area resident, told reporters she believed that before the balloon crashed, it hit high-power lines, which caused popping sounds like a gun going off.
“It went up like a big fireball,” she told reporters, adding the balloon’s chase crew, which follows the aircraft on the ground to assist with its landing, arrived on the scene after the sheriff’s department.
The crash of the balloon was the deadliest on record in the Western Hemisphere, said Jeff Chatterton, a spokesman for the Balloon Federation of North America.
Source
This vid was taken from a police cruiser. They still didn't know what had happened.
Related images below:
1.
2. The balloon that crashed, in happier days.
3. Undated photo appearing to be taken when the balloon was making a landing or taking off.
4. A person in a car noticed the balloon, very close to the ground, and shot a short vid of it: this is moments before it hit the wires.
5. Screen grab from a police camera, showing the crash and the balloon's basket still dangling from the wires.
6. The balloon free from the hydro wires falls to the ground.
7. Emergency crews on site.
8. Bodies being placed into a white van.
9.
10. Emergency crews at the site. The remains of the basket's steel frame in the middle.
11. Same ^
12. General view of the power lines and crash site (just below the foremost hydro tower).
13. Pilot of the hot air balloon, Skip Nichols. takes a selfie (2016).
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