No fewer than eight people were killed on Saturday when a hot air balloon with 21 passengers caught fire in southern Brazil, said the governor of Santa Catarina state, where the incident occurred.
“Eight fatalities and 13 survivors,” Governor Jorginho Mello said on X.
The balloon erupted in flames above the seaside village of Praia Grande, causing the basket containing the passengers to plunge dozens of metres to the ground.
Bystanders captured videos of the incident, which were broadcast on Brazilian media.
“We still have no information” about the condition of the survivors, a spokeswoman for Santa Catarina firefighters told AFP.
Praia Grande, located on Brazil’s Atlantic coast, is a popular hot-air ballooning resort.
According to firefighters, survivors are being treated in nearby hospitals.
“I want to express my solidarity with the families of the victims,” Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said in a statement.
According to Tiago Luiz Lemos, a police official in Praia Grande, the pilot said that the fire was started by a blowtorch in the basket.
As soon as the fire started, the pilot attempted to bring the balloon down, and as it was near to the ground, he instructed the passengers to jump from the basket. But some of them couldn’t accomplish it, and the fire spread,” the officer said.
A witness told the Razao newspaper that he saw “two people falling; they were on fire; the basket broke off, and the balloon fell.”
It was the second tragic balloon disaster in the country in a matter of days.
A woman died while riding in the southeastern state of Sao Paulo less than a week ago.
