2 Dead in Canada as Hot Air Balloon explodes in Fire Ball
Pastor Dale Morgan
2 Dead in Canada as Hot Air Balloon explodes in Fire Ball*
By JEREMY HAINSWORTH
The Associated Press
Saturday, August 25, 2007; 2:56 PM
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- A hot air balloon burst into flames over
western Canada, burning two passengers to death while their families
looked on, police said Saturday. Other passengers leaped to the ground,
some with their clothes in flames, witnesses said.
Eleven people were seriously injured when the balloon crashed Friday
evening in a recreational vehicle park in Surrey, British Columbia, a
suburb of Vancouver. There were 12 passengers and a pilot on board,
police and witnesses said.
Flames consume motor homes at the Hazelmere trailer park after a hot air
balloon whose basket was engulfed in flames crashed into it shortly
after takeoff in Surrey British Colombia Canada Friday evening Aug. 24,
2007. Witnesses said passengers screamed and jumped to the ground
according to witnesses. The balloon reportedly took off from a grassy
field with 12 passengers. The balloon crashed in the trailer park and
campground , injuring as many as 11 people, police and local reports
said. Two additional people were unaccounted for.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Roger Morrow said relatives of the
two passengers killed witnessed the fire. He declined to comment on
reports that the dead were a mother and her grown daughter.
"It's just tragic. They watched it unfold before their eyes," Morrow
said of the families. "The fatalities suffered from burns."
The balloon caught fire as it prepared to launch, said Bill Yearwood, an
investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
"The crew loaded 12 passengers and was preparing to launch when a fire
erupted. The pilot asked the passengers to get out of the basket," he
said. "The balloon was tethered at the time, but then broke and came
loose," he added.
"They were all trying to get out."
After most of the passengers escaped, the balloon exploded in a fireball
and shot up into the air. Shortly after, the burning balloon plunged to
ground in the RV park, leaving a tail of thick black smoke in its wake.
"I can't tell you what exactly happened when the balloon was loosened
from the tether," Yearwood said. "We will be talking to attending crew
members and the pilot to find out."
He said the pilot was in stable condition.
"The thing went up about 400 feet in the air at which point it melted
enough of the balloon _ it collapsed," said Don Randall, a resident of
the trailer park who took pictures of the scene. "The basket was
basically a fireball. It just dropped like a stone," he added.
"I'm just thinking, 'Oh geez, I hope there's nobody in that thing. It's
basically a burning death up there,'" he said.