Passengers leap from flaming Canadian balloon

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug 26 (Reuters) A hot-air balloon caught fire as it began a sunset flight near Vancouver, killing two people and injuring 11 others, some who jumped from the craft in midair, police and witnesses said.

Local media reported the dead were a mother and her teenage daughter. Some of the 11 injured were in serious condition.

Passenger Diana Rutledge said flames engulfed the crowded balloon basket as the flight began on Friday. She hesitated jumping at first, but was forced to leap as the craft rose rapidly into the sky over Surrey, British Columbia.

''I thought, okay, it's do or die,'' an emotional Rutledge told reporters from her hospital bed, where she was recovering from broken legs and other injuries. ''All the way down I thought, this is going to really hurt.'' Rutledge grabbed another passenger as she jumped and pulled her to safety as well. The woman, described as a German tourist celebrating her 69th birthday, was also hospitalized.

The balloon with 12 passengers and a pilot caught fire as it was taking off from a field.

It gained height and sped away, before the basket plunged in a fireball into a nearby trailer park, destroying three mobile homes and two cars, police and witnesses said. Officials said there were no injuries among people on the ground.

''People were screaming and trying to get out. And of course as four or five people got out the basket got lighter and it started lifting off,'' witness Frank Hersey told reporters yesterday. ''You could see the flame burning up their backs.'' One man jumped at least 40 feet to the ground and was injured as he landed among some parked vehicles, said Hersey, who was staying at a nearby campground with his family and had considered taking a ride in the balloon.

Bill Yearwood, an investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, told CBC News the balloon was tethered at the time the fire started and the pilot instructed people to get out. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police declined to identify the victims, saying their relatives needed time to recover. ''Family members were on the scene when this unfolded before their eyes,'' police said in a statement.

The Transportation Safety Board said the balloon was operated by Fantasy Balloon Charters of Langley, British Columbia. The company's Web site said it has been offering flights since 1984, and the pilot had more than a decade of experience.

REUTERS SBC HT0910