Hot air balloon ‘went up like a big fireball’
A hot air balloon burst into flames over central Texas yesterday 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 near Lockhart, a town about 50 kilometres south of Austin, the Texas capital.
Emergency responders said the basket portion of the balloon carrying the passengers and crew caught fire. Aerial 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, Erik Grosof, said teams from that agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation would determine how the crash unfolded.
FBI assistance is routine in cases of major accidents, Grosof said.
Resident Margaret Wylie said she believed that before the balloon crashed, it hit power transmission lines, which caused popping sounds like a gun going off.
‘‘It went up like a big fireball,’’ she said.
Grosof said the balloon was believed to have been operated by Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides, a company that serves the Austin, Houston and San Antonio areas.
The sunglass-wearing smiley face and stars-and-stripes design of the fallen craft matched the pattern of a balloon featured in pictures posted on the company’s Facebook page, which carried messages of condolences.
Skip Nichols, identified by the company as its chief pilot, was reported to have been at the controls of the balloon when it crashed.
The crash was the deadliest on record in the western hemisphere, said Jeff Chatterton, a spokesman for the Balloon Federation of North America.
‘‘There are thousands of balloons that go up every year,’’ he said. ‘‘This is unspeakably tragic but it is rather unique.’’
More than 150 commercial hot air balloon companies operate in North America, he said.