A hot-air balloon caught fire and tumbled from the sky today in Brazil’s southern state of Santa Catarina, killing eight people, while 13 jumped to safety.
The horrifying crash happened today in the country’s Praia Grande region – a popular destination for hot-air ballooning.
Footage shared by local news outlet G1 showed billows of smoke coming from the balloon in flames as it hurled toward the ground.
In a separate video circulating on social media, two people can be seen falling through the air as the fire spreads onboard the aircraft.
Thirteen people survived and were taken to hospitals, Santa Catarina’s military fire brigade said, adding that 21 people were on board including the pilot.
It is thought a woman might have boarded the hot air balloon at the very last minute, creating a possible 22nd victim, who authorities are searching for.
Chief of Police of the State of Santa Catarina, Ulisses Gabriel, said the causes of the incident are being investigated, with the main hypotheses being adverse weather conditions or human error.
‘The wind was quite strong, and several people were holding the balloon when it first left the site. In fact, there was a truck pulling the balloon with a cable, which was moving very intensely from side to side’, he told Brazilian broadcaster Globo News.
‘There is an indication that the gas ended up leaking due to this intense movement, causing the tarpaulin to burn. Despite it being flame-retardant, there was an intense fire. The balloon went up and, after a while, ended up coming down, and that was when 13 people, including the pilot, managed to get out’.
He also described how the balloon went up again with some still on board.
That is when ‘people started to get desperate’, Mr Gabriel explained, adding how ‘some ended up jumping out of the basket. Those who stayed ended up dying from burns’.
‘We are in mourning. A tragedy has happened. We will see how it unfolds, what happened, why it happened. But the important thing now is for the state structure to do what it can,’ State Governor Jorginho Mello said in a video on X.
Mello said he has asked authorities to head to the municipality ‘to do as much as possible to rescue, to help, to take to hospital, to comfort the families.’
The cause of the accident is still being investigated and rescue teams are on the ground searching for those not accounted for.
But the pilot, amazingly, survived, according to Brazilian outlet Jornal Razao, and has since explained how he understands the fire to have started.
The fire reportedly started in a back-up burner stored in the basket.
Somehow, it caught alight, the pilot explained: ‘I don’t know if it stayed lit or if it reignited on its own, but it was the torch that started it all.’
After noticing the flames, he immediately tried to lower the balloon, ordering passengers to jump when the craft got close to the ground.
Some managed to leap to safety, surviving with injuries – but others did not make it out in time.
The hot air balloon weighed much less after those people had escaped – so it rose up into the sky, carrying the passengers who stayed behind in the basket with it.
As the fire spread, the balloon detached from the basket, which then began to speed towards the ground.
Among those who remained in the basket, no one is said to have survived.
News outlet G1 reported that the balloon’s expected flight time was 45 minutes, with the balloon reaching over 3000ft.
One witness told Jornal Razao earlier today: ‘We saw two people fall on fire. After the basket broke, the balloon fell completely.’
Another added: When we arrived, there were two people alive, a woman covered in mud, in shock, and a man limping.
‘In the pasture, there were two bodies near the horses. The balloon was deeper in the forest, on fire.
‘The firefighters asked us to move the cars because it could explode, because of the gas.’
One other commented: ‘They said it was not even a day to fly.
‘Before it fell, it caught fire up high. Two women jumped out and fell onto the rocks on the other side of the city.’
Residents said around 30 balloons were flying in the region on the morning of the accident, with the one that crashed one of the last to take off.
The coastal Praia Grande area where the shocking accident happened is well-known as a hot air ballooning destination, Brazilian news website G1 reports.
The spot in the extreme south of the Santa Catarina state is often referred to Brazilian Cappadocia, for its similarities to the famous tourist ballooning region in Turkey.
The state fire department said in a previous statement: ‘The Santa Catarina Military Fire Department (CBMSC) is currently responding to a balloon crash in the municipality of Praia Grande, in the south of the state, which occurred on the morning of Saturday, June 21.
‘The corporation confirms four deaths at the scene and the other victims are being treated, searched for and evaluated by our teams.’
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also expressed solidarity with the families and victims of the tragedy.
‘I would like to express my solidarity with the families of the victims of the balloon accident that occurred this Saturday morning in Santa Catarina. And I would like to place the Federal Government at the disposal of the victims and the state and municipal forces that are working on the rescue and care for the survivors.’
It comes less than a week after a woman died during a hot air balloon ride in the Brazilian city of São Paulo.
Juliana Alves Prado Pereira, 27, a psychologist from the Pouso Alegre region of Brazil’s Minas Gerais state, was on a trip there with her husband Leandro de Aquino Pereira.
More than 30 people were onboard the hot air balloon – and 11 of them were injured.
This is a breaking news story. More updates to follow.
