19 Tourists die as hot air balloon explodes mid air near Valley of Kings in Luxor, Egypt

A holiday turns into mourning and deaths as a hot air balloon carrying British, French, Japanese and Chinese nationals exploded mid air near the famous Egyptian Valley of Kings near Luxor.

This picture were taken by a tourist 40 minutes before the hot air balloon on the left exploded in the sky and plunged to the ground

Luxor is 320 miles south of Cairo and is one of Egypt's most popular tourist destinations as it is close to the famous Valley of the Kings, where many pharaohs are buried, including Tutankhamen.

The hot air balloon involved in the crash flies over the memorial temple of Ramses II known as The Ramesseum during December 2012

Eye witnesses heard an explosion, saw smoke and then it fell from the sky - at the time of accident the balloon was approximately 1,000 feet above the ground. However, while the fireball was descending, witnesses saw desperate tourists jumping from flaming basket when it was 70ft above ground.

Eyewitness Cherry Tohamy was in another balloon nearby and told the BBC: 'People were jumping out of the balloon from about the height of a seven-storey building. Our pilot told us that the balloon had hit a high pressure electrical cable and a cylinder on board exploded.'

An employee at the company operating the balloon, Sky Cruise, told Sky News the two Brits survived by jumping from the basket before it hit the ground.

One of the injured survivor and former policewoman Linda Lea, 67, from Stoke-on-Trent, still suffers from the multiple injuries she sustained in that crash.She said today: 'I cannot believe this has happened again. They promised to tighten safety procedures after my crash. Flights were stopped for a time.

Watch the video of the horrific ordeal (added later on 27 February via Mail Online):

Read more about it at: Mail Online
Follow us on Facebook

Read more »

Hot air balloon pilot crashes into high voltage cables... and left hanging for FIVE hours

This is the moment when a father thought he was seeing his son die as a hot air balloon burst into flames after hitting 132,000-volt power cables.

Wind blew the balloon into a Northamptonshire pylon carrying 132,000 volts and left Pilot Adam Griffiths, 18, and his two passengers hanging between 6pm and 11pm last night.

After their brush with death, the passengers – who had not been in a hot air balloon before – and their pilot dangled 45ft off the ground for five hours waiting for the power to be switched off so they could be brought down by rescue teams.

Read more: Mail Online  

Read more »

Five couples and pilot dead as hot air balloon crashes in New Zealand

[ via Mail Online ] 7 Jan

New Zealand Police said five couples and the pilot were killed when the hot air balloon crashed near Wellington in an area that is popular with overseas tourists.

On the other hand British authorities are investigating whether any UK tourists were on board a hot air balloon which crashed in flames in New Zealand, killing all 11 people on board.

Local Mayor Ron Mark said those on board were a mix of local people and tourists. Early reports suggested a fire had started in the basket, causing the canopy to ignite, resulting in the apparatus plunging to the ground in flames, giving no hope for those on board.

One witness said that amid screams from those in the basket, two of the passengers had jumped out to avoid the flames as it plunged.

Read more: Mail Online

Please join us on Facebook

Read more »