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.
French, British, Hong Kong and Japanese nationals are among 19 tourists reportedly killed in a hot air balloon crash near the Egyptian city of Luxor.
The balloon was flying at 1,000 ft (300 m) when it caught fire and exploded, plunging onto fields west of Luxor, officials said.
One witness said people were jumping out of the balloon, “from about the height of a seven-storey building”.
Two people, including the balloon’s pilot, reportedly survived the crash.
Luxor lies on the banks of the River Nile and is home to some of Egypt’s most famous pharaonic-era ruins.
The crash happened on one of the many dawn hot air balloon flights that give tourists an aerial view of Luxor’s famous sites, such as Karnak temple and the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings.
It was understood that a gas cylinder exploded on board the balloon, bringing it down in an agricultural area just outside Luxor.
Cherry Tohamy’s balloon was landing when she heard an explosion and saw flames from a balloon above.
“Our pilot told us that the balloon had hit a high pressure electrical cable and a cylinder on board exploded,” said Cherry Tohamy, an Egyptian living in Kuwait who was on holiday in Luxor.
“People were jumping out of the balloon from about the height of a seven-storey building.”
She said ambulances were at the scene within 15 minutes.
French, British, Hong Kong and Japanese nationals are among 19 tourists reportedly killed in a hot air balloon crash near the Egyptian city of Luxor
Another witness, US photographer Christopher Michel said his balloon was just about to land when he “heard an explosion and saw smoke”.
NBC News quoted a Luxor health official as saying that the victims include nine from Hong Kong, four from Japan, two from the United Kingdom and two from France, with two yet to be identified.
The British foreign office said it was making urgent inquiries with its colleagues in Egypt to confirm reports of British casualties.
A spokesman from the Hong Kong government confirmed that nine Hong Kong residents were in the crash balloon and a team of immigration officers was being sent to Egypt.
Hot air balloon crashes have happened in Luxor before. Two British women were among 16 injured when their balloon came down in April 2009.
Luxor, like many other parts of Egypt, has seen a sharp downturn in visitor numbers since the uprising in early 2011 that forced long-time President Hosni Mubarak to step down.
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Eleven people have died in a hot-air balloon crash in the Wairarapa region, about 80 km (50 miles) north-east of New Zealand’s capital Wellington.
Police and witnesses say the balloon struck power lines and burst into flames, before plunging to the ground.
The crash happened on farmland at Clareville, near the town of Carterton, in the Wairarapa region – an area that is popular with balloonists.
Five couples from the Wellington area were on board, plus the pilot. Nobody survived.
“We are deeply sorry to learn of this tragic accident and our hearts go out to those who are now mourning the loss of life,” Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee said, according to Associated Press news agency.
Eleven people have died in a hot-air balloon crash in the Wairarapa region, about 80 km (50 miles) north-east of New Zealand’s capital Wellington
An investigation by New Zealand’s Transport Accident Investigation Commission is under way.
Eyewitness Bevan Lambess, who was driving by, told Reuters news agency: “The wicker basket was on fire and I saw something holding it down – it looked like ropes but I got closer and it was actually the top (electric) power line that was holding the basket down.
“It probably still would have been 15m in the air. I slowed down and then the whole basket started to go up in flames.”
Police commander Mike Rusbatch said two people appeared to have jumped from the basket of the balloon as it came down.
Another witness, David McKinley, told the state broadcaster TVNZ he noticed part of the basket was on fire when it passed over his garden.
“It was just above the trees when I first saw it. It looked like he tried to raise it a bit higher. All of a sudden there was just 10 m of flames.
“It was like a rocket coming down,” David McKinley said.
The incident occurred in bright, clear conditions with little wind.
The only victim publicly identified so far is the pilot and balloon owner, Lance Hopping, reported AP.
Lance Hopping was considered an experienced and safety-conscious pilot who acted as safety officer for the Balloons over Wairarapa annual event – with organizer Jonathan Hooker quoted as saying he had more than 10,000 hours of commercial ballooning experience.
The incident is New Zealand’s worst air disaster since 1979, when an Air New Zealand sightseeing flight crashed into Mt Erebus in Antarctica, killing all 257 passengers on board.
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