MAD NEWS: Photos and Video: Hot Air Balloon Crash in New Zealand Killed 11, Including 5 Couples

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Photos and Video: Hot Air Balloon Crash in New Zealand Killed 11, Including 5 Couples

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Jan. 07) – Eleven people killed today (Saturday, Jan. 07) in a horrifying air crash involving hot air balloon near a rural New Zealand town. The incident is being described as the deadliest air crash in fifty years which killed all people on board.

Hot Air Balloon Crash in New Zealand Killed 11

According to details shared by police and witness; a hot air balloon traveling with 11 people turned into a terrible tower of "sheer flame" today early in the morning after hitting power lines near the township of Carterton - a region well known for its hot air ballooning. Apparently there were no unfavorable conditions, like bad light, hazy weather or fast winds; that may lead to such disaster.

There were five couples, from Wellington area, along with a pilot which were killed in this unfortunate incident. Police found all 11 bodies, some of them badly burnt, in a farmland. Two of those killed reportedly jumped out of the basket in desperation before the fiery balloon plunged with a loud knock as it hit the ground.

The pilot and five couples from the Wellington area, about 95 miles (150 kilometers) south of the crash site, were killed. Some of the bodies were badly burned, said Superintendent Mike Rusbatch, a police district commander in Wellington, the capital.

Witnesses told local media of seeing 32-foot (10-meter) high flames rising from the basket of the dark blue and maroon striped balloon before it plummeted to the farmland below.

An eyewitness Bevan Lambeth said the basket was on fire "and the power lines were holding the basket down, but it was still about 50 meters (165 feet) in the air. Then the whole basket started to go up in flames," as the balloon broke clear of the electric lines.