Five die in crash of hotair balloon in Albuquerque

Five people died after a hotair balloon they were riding in hit power lines in New Mexico’s largest city and the gondola crashed to the ground Saturday, police said.

The crash happened around 7 a.m. on Albuquerque’s west side, police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said. Fire officials said three men, including the pilot, and two females died. Two victims were identified as Martin Martinez, 59, and Mary Martinez, 62 — the parents of a prison transport officer with the Albuquerque Police Department.

Four of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene, and the fifth person died after being taken to a hospital in critical condition, Gallegos said.

The multicolored balloon skimmed into power lines, causing at least one to dangle and knocking out power to more than 13,000 homes, Gallegos said.

The gondola fell about 100 feet and crashed in the median of a busy street, catching on fire, the Federal Aviation Administration said. Bystanders frantically called for a fire extinguisher to put out the flames, video posted online showed.

The envelope of the balloon floated away, eventually landing on a residential rooftop, Gallegos said. The FAA did not immediately have registration details for the balloon but identified it as a Cameron 0120.

Authorities haven’t determined what caused the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board sent two investigators to the scene Saturday who will look into the pilot, the balloon itself and the operating environment, said spokesman Peter Knudson. A preliminary report typically is available in a couple of weeks.

Gallegos said hotair balloons can be difficult to manage, particularly when the wind kicks up.

“Our balloonists tend to be very much experts at navigating, but sometimes we have these types of tragic accidents,” he said.

Albuquerque is a mecca for hotair ballooning. The city hosts a nineday event in October that draws hundreds of thousands of spectators and pilots from around the world.

Albuquerquearea residents are treated to colorful displays of balloons floating over homes and along the Rio Grande throughout the year. While accidents aren’t common, they do happen.

Since 2008, there have been 12 fatal hotair ballooning accidents in the United States, according to an NTSB database. Two of those happened in Rio Rancho just outside Albuquerque in 2008 and in January of this year.

Adolphe Pierre-Louis / Albuquerque Journal Rescue crews work at the site of a hotair balloon crash in Albuquerque that killed five people. Police said the balloon struck power lines before plummeting 100 feet to the ground.