Hot air balloon crash kills Chinese tourist in Turkey

A Chinese tourist has died and nine others injured in a hot air balloon crash in Turkey.

The balloon, which was carrying Chinese and Malaysian tourists, came down in the Güvercinlik Valley in Cappadocia at 08:15Am local time on December 17.

The tourist killed was identified by Turkish media as Tang Yi, while a Malaysian was reported to be in a critical condition.

Reports from Turkey said the cause of the incident was as yet unknown.

The balloon had taken off from Goreme in Nevsehir province in Central Anatolia on Wednesday morning.

Paramedics and security forces were dispatched to the scene of the crash.

In 2009, a balloon crash in the same region killed a British tourist and injured nine other people.

Three Brazilian tourists were killed, and 20 people injured, when two balloons collided in Cappadocia in 2013.

Cappadocia, in central Anatolia, is famed for its “fairy chimney” volcanic cones, subterranean cities carved out of soft stone, and early Christian churches.

Ballooning has become a popular tourist business in the region over the past decade.