Nine injured when balloon crashes

A hot air balloon crashed twice Saturday on the eastern edge of the Alps in Austria, injuring nine people as a hard landing apparently bounced the pilot and the co-pilot out of the basket and sent several passengers back into the sky on their own, authorities said.

The Kurier daily newspaper reported that the balloon descended too quickly and bounced off the ground, knocking four people out of the basket before taking off again with the five remaining passengers. Still, the pilot was able to instruct the passengers by phone on how to land.