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The governor of Luxor, Ezzat Saad, told the BBC he wanted to send his condolences to the families of those killed and injured.
"We have never seen anything quite like this in Luxor before. It is an awful thing," he said.
"For the safety of the tourists and the Egyptians I have ordered all the companies dealing with balloons to stop flights until we know exactly what happened and the reasons for it."
The balloon was on an early morning flight above the ancient temples of Luxor when it caught fire and exploded
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.
The balloon's operating company, Sky Cruise, said a gas cylinder exploded on board, bringing it down in sugar cane fields just west of Luxor.
Luxor has seen a drop in visitor numbers since the 2011 uprising
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 Ms 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."
Alaa Mahmoud, a sales manager for another local balloon company, Magic Horizon, told the Guardian newspaper that the accident happened as crews tried to anchor the balloon to the ground using ropes hanging from the basket. The ropes became entangled in the tubes leading to the gas cylinder and severed them, after which the gas was ignited, he added.
"The flames were so strong that the pilot and one guy jumped," he said. "When they jumped, the balloon lost balance and the balloon went up again."
An investigator with the state prosecutor's office also told the Associated Press that a landing cable had got caught around a helium tube.
Another witness, US photographer Christopher Michel said his balloon was just about to land when he "heard an explosion and saw smoke".
Eyewitness Christopher Michel: "We heard a loud explosion"
The area has been cordoned off by police and investigators are inspecting the charred remains of the balloon.
Egypt's civil aviation minister has reportedly flown to Luxor to head the investigation into the crash.
Hot air balloon crashes have happened in Luxor before. Two British women were among 16 injured when their balloon came down after hitting a communications tower in April 2009.
Balloons were grounded for six months after that crash while safety measures were tightened up and pilots re-trained.
But, says the BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Cairo, since the 2011 revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, the rule of law is not being respected in many aspects of Egyptian life, so it has been difficult for the tourism ministry to impose its authority on sites like this.
Luxor, like many other parts of Egypt, has seen a sharp downturn in visitor numbers during the two years since the uprising.
What a way to go. I wonder if anyone got killed by the explosion, or if everyone just plummeted to their demise. RIP
Shieet. That is scary. Serious question, I wonder if you would survive if you grabbed another individual, preferably larger than you, and used them as a landing? Then you'd roll or flip off, trying to divert some of the stress on yourself? (Sort of like how parkour people will do a side or flip after the landing from a large height)
Maybe jump out at the 3-4th story mark. There must be some research on this.
like a helicopter, i would never go on one, 1 thing wrong and you are fcked, even big plane can glide to the ground, yes they can still crash, but the chances or surviving by gliding in a plane rather then falling like a rock.
like a helicopter, i would never go on one, 1 thing wrong and you are fcked, even big plane can glide to the ground, yes they can still crash, but the chances or surviving by gliding in a plane rather then falling like a rock.
still very unfortunate that this happened
Just buy a parachute, carry it around when you fly. When trouble hits, say f'this, and jump.
like a helicopter, i would never go on one, 1 thing wrong and you are fcked, even big plane can glide to the ground, yes they can still crash, but the chances or surviving by gliding in a plane rather then falling like a rock.
still very unfortunate that this happened
The thing is... you don't fall like a rock when your engine stops in a hellicopter. If you didn't know, helicopters can actually glide like planes too (autorotation)
Shieet. That is scary. Serious question, I wonder if you would survive if you grabbed another individual, preferably larger than you, and used them as a landing? Then you'd roll or flip off, trying to divert some of the stress on yourself? (Sort of like how parkour people will do a side or flip after the landing from a large height)
Maybe jump out at the 3-4th story mark. There must be some research on this.
This isn't a movie. You'd die.
The sudden deceleration isn't slowed down (much) by another body that's relatively solid. You'd also have a difficult time trying not to roll and break your neck/back at the same time.
The sudden deceleration isn't slowed down (much) by another body that's relatively solid. You'd also have a difficult time trying not to roll and break your neck/back at the same time.
You could say Subordinate's theory is full of hot air
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man, are airliner, helitours, hang gliding, hot air balloon companies all stupid? you would think they would have provided everyone with parachutes on board in this part of the trade just in case something goes wrong, at least the passengers would have a chance to survive rather then just sitting in one spot, or falling to their doom. Yes it will cost a lot more money and maybe training would be in need but, at the end, this is about peoples lives. They should put more effort into developing a safety slim chute or something people can just strap on quickly.
I wouldn't imagine that safety regulations in a country like Egypt are as strong as they are here. This is an example of how bad things can get.
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Originally Posted by doritos
man, are airliner, helitours, hang gliding, hot air balloon companies all stupid? you would think they would have provided everyone with parachutes on board in this part of the trade just in case something goes wrong, at least the passengers would have a chance to survive rather then just sitting in one spot, or falling to their doom. Yes it will cost a lot more money and maybe training would be in need but, at the end, this is about peoples lives. They should put more effort into developing a safety slim chute or something people can just strap on quickly.
I'm not sure a parachute would do much good at 1000 feet. Anyone who went sky diving would know better I guess.
sad news indeed. The hong kong tourist were booked under the same company that was involved with the mass tour bus shooting in the Philippines a few years ago.
For Hong Kong News source, they said a few jumped out and was burning and asking for help but the local farmers all fled.
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