2 killed, 11 hurt in Canadian balloon fire

By Staff
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Toronto, Aug 26: Two people were killed and 11 injured, some of them seriously, after a hot-air balloon caught fire as it left for a sunset flight in British Columbia, Canadian media reported today.

CBC News said the fire started shortly after the balloon left the ground yesterday evening and the pilot ordered panicked passengers to jump to safety.

The balloon then gained height and sped away, before the basket plunged, like a fireball, into a nearby trailer park, destroying three mobile homes and two cars.

''The operator had loaded 12 passengers and was preparing to launch the balloon when an uncontrolled fire erupted,'' Bill Yearwood, an investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, told CBC News.

''The balloon was tethered at the time and the pilot instructed people to get out. It subsequently rose and the tether broke and it climbed before it collapsed and fell into a residential area.'' Witnesses described how people jumped from the balloon as the flames grew.

''I was watching the whole thing lift off,'' a witness told CTV Television. ''It ignited while they were in the basket 25 feet off the ground. It just went up all in flames.'' The Transportation Safety Board will investigate why the balloon, operated by Fantasy Balloons Charters in Langley, British Columbia, caught fire. Conditions were reportedly good, with little wind and good visibility.

Reuters
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