19 killed in Eqypt balloon crash

Rescue workers inspect wreckage at the scene. (AP Photo/Hagag Salama) 

According to the Egyptian security official, 

The balloon carrying at least 20 tourists was flying over Luxor when it caught fire, which triggered an explosion in its gas canister, then plunged at least 300 metres from the sky.

It crashed into a sugar cane field outside al-Dhabaa village just west of Luxor, 510 kilometres south of Cairo, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. 

Bodies of the dead tourists were scattered across the field around the remnants of the balloon. 

An Associated Press reporter at the crash site counted eight bodies as they were put into body bags and taken away. 

AT least 19 foreign tourists were killed as their hot air balloon crashed near the famed ancient city of Luxor in Egypt, authorities say. 

It is believed that at least two people, including the pilot, have survived.

A spokesman for companies that operate balloon flights in the area told Reuters that 19 tourists aboard had died.

Ahmed Aboud added that one tourist and the balloon pilot had survived the accident, which happened after a gas explosion.

The remains of one of the victims in a body bag at the scene. (AP Photo/Hagag Salama) 

 

"There were 20 passengers aboard. An explosion happened and 19 passengers died. One tourist and the pilot survived," he said by telephone. 

Aboud is the representative of eight companies that operate balloons in Luxor.

 NBC News quoted a Luxor health official as saying that the victims included nine from Hong Kong, four from Japan, two from the United Kingdom and two from France, with two yet to be identified.

An employee at the company operating the balloon said the accident was "terrible, just terrible".

A Twitter picture from the area just before the crash near Luxor. Photo: @chrismichel , Twitter 

 

"We don't yet know what happened exactly or what went wrong."

US photographer Christopher Michel was in another balloon, taking some aerial shots, at the time of the crash.

He told the BBC: "We flew over the ancient ruins. Just before landing in the cornfields, I heard an explosion and saw smoke. I think it was the balloon behind mine.

Photo from Luxor balloon tragedy. Photo: @chrismichel, Twitter 

 

"I wasn't sure what had happened at first. It was only when we landed we heard the full extent of what happened."

Ezzat Saad, the governor of Luxor, told Nile News the Egyptian pilot had suffered 70 percent burns.

He said another person taken to hospital was undergoing surgery.

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