Firefighters said hot balloons started a fire in the southern province of Santa Catarina, Brazil on Saturday, falling from the sky and killing eight people.
Video shared by local news outlet G1 showed a huge wave of smoke from balloons amidst the flames as they were injured towards the ground of the Praia Grande municipality.
Social media videos show that the fire is mounted on the aircraft, allowing two people to fall into the air.
Urices Gabriel, the Chief of Civic Police in Santa Catarina, said that it would “harm the soul” and that the three of them died in embrace.
Santa Catarina’s military firefighters said 13 people survived and were taken to hospital, adding that 21 people were on board, including pilots.
“We are in mourning. There has been a tragedy. We’ll see how it unfolds, what happened, why it happened. But the important thing right now is to do what the nation structure can do,” Gov. Jorgie Mello said in the X video.
Mello said he asked the authorities to head to the municipality.
Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva expressed solidarity with the victims’ families and said the federal government is freely positioned by the victims and local governments.
“According to a pilot, one of the survivors, a fire began to begin to fall into the basket and the balloons began to lower. When the balloons were very close to the ground, he ordered people to jump out of the basket.”
“Some of them couldn’t jump. The fire increased and balloons fell,” added Lemos.
The G1 reported that the balloon’s expected flight time was 45 minutes, with the balloon reaching 1,000 meters and costing 550 Reais (about $100) per passenger.
Sobrevoar, the company responsible for multi-color balloons, said it complies with all regulations and has a clean accident record before Saturday.
“Despite all the precautions needed and the efforts of the pilot, we have extensive experience and follow all recommended procedures to save everyone in balloons, we are suffering from the pain caused by this tragedy,” the statement said.
Sobrevoar added that all operations have been stopped indefinitely.
Praia Grande is a common destination for hot air ballooning, a popular activity in parts of southern Brazil.
Last Sunday, balloons came down in the province of Sao Paulo, killing a 27-year-old woman and injuring 11 others, G1 reported.
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