Two passengers killed as balloon catches fire
VANCOUVER, B.C. – A hot air balloon preparing to take off burst into flames in suburban Surrey, burning a woman and her adult daughter to death while their families looked on, officials said Saturday.
Eleven other people were seriously injured as they scrambled, some with their clothes in flames, out of the nine-story-tall balloon.
John Kageorge, who works for Fantasy Balloon Charters, said the fire started as the balloon was about to launch Friday evening. Kageorge said three passengers did not get out of the basket before it became airborne.
“One person jumped from an unsafe distance, two stories in the air or more,” said Kageorge. The mother and daughter did not jump, he said, although two of their family members made it out of the basket.
The balloon crashed into the ground in a recreational vehicle park, setting fire to three trailers and several vehicles. No one was reported hurt in those blazes.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Roger Morrow confirmed the deaths and said relatives of the two passengers killed witnessed the fire.
“It’s just tragic. They watched it unfold before their eyes,” Morrow said of the family. “The fatalities suffered from burns.”
The balloon was carrying 12 passengers and a pilot, 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,” he said. “The pilot asked the passengers to get out of the basket. The balloon was tethered at the time, but then broke and came loose. … 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.
“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.”
Smoke could be seen billowing from the crash site from miles away. Witnesses said propane tanks from the balloon shot off and landed on the Hazelmere RV park below.
The cause of the accident was not immediately known. Weather conditions were clear at the time of the sunset flight.