Balloon crash injures six

A HOT air balloon that crashed in the NSW Hunter Valley with 15 people onboard has left four people in hospital, including a young woman with suspected spinal injuries.

The balloon’s basket made a hard landing, tipped sideways and was dragged a number of metres at Greta, about 21km from Cessnock, on Saturday morning.

Balloon Safaris has blamed a quicker than expected shift in wind speed for the accident, saying conditions were calm in the morning when four hot air balloons took off at 5.45am.

“The pilot decided to land at the first available landing spot,” the company said.

Six people were injured, including a woman in her 20s with suspected spinal injuries and an 80-year-old woman who fractured her leg.