At least eight people died on Saturday when a hot air balloon with 21 passengers caught fire in southern Brazil, said the state governor of Santa Catarina, where the incident occurred.
“Eight deaths and 13 survivors,” Governor Jorginho Mello said in X.
The videos taken by spectators and continued on Brazilian television showed the moment when the globe exploded in flames about the coastal city of Praia Grande. The climatic conditions were clear. The basket that transported the passengers collapsed dozens of meters to the ground.
“We still have no information” about the condition of the survivors, they said a spokeswoman for the Firefighters of Santa Catarina. AFP.
Praia Grande, on the Atlantic coast, is a popular destination for the hot air balloon in Brazil.
The survivors were being treated in hospitals in the area, firefighters said. An investigation was launched to determine the cause of the accident.
“I want to express my solidarity with the families of the victims,” said Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a statement.
The pilot told officials that the fire was caused by a torch in the basket, said Tiago Luiz Lemos, a police officer from Praia Grande, to local media.
The pilot tried to tear down the globe as soon as the fire exploded, “and once it was close to the ground, he told passengers to jump from the basket. But some of them could not do it and the fire grew,” said the official.
A witness told Rifle Newspaper who saw “two people falling, were on fire, the basket broke and the globe fell.”
It was the second fatal balloon accident in the country in just a few days. Less than a week ago, a woman died during a trip in the southeast of the state of Sao Paulo.
