A hot air balloon burst into flames over central Texas after apparently striking power lines and plunged into a field, killing all 16 people aboard in one of the deadliest such accidents on record.
The US Federal Aviation Administration said the fiery crash occurred at about 7.40am on Saturday near Lockhart, a town about 50km south of Austin.
The Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed the 16 people aboard the doomed craft were dead.
Emergency responders in Texas said the basket portion of the balloon, which carries the passengers and crew, caught fire.
Aerial television footage from the aftermath of the accident showed remnants of the red, white and blue balloon, adorned with a large, yellow smiley face wearing sunglasses, lying flattened at the crash site.
The National Transportation Safety Board offered no details on what may have caused the accident, which occurred on a clear day. But a spokesman at the scene, Erik Grosof, said teams from that agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were being dispatched to determine how the crash unfolded.
Margaret Wylie, a resident of the area, told reporters she believed that before the balloon crashed, it hit power transmission lines, which caused popping sounds like a gun going off.
"It went up like a big fireball," she told reporters.
Grosof said the balloon was believed to have been operated by Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides, a company that serves the Austin, Houston and San Antonio areas.
Skip Nichols, identified by the company as its chief pilot, was reported by Austin station KVUE-TV, citing close friends, to have been at the controls of the balloon when it crashed.
The crash of the balloon was the deadliest on record in the Western Hemisphere, said Jeff Chatterton, a spokesman for the Balloon Federation of North America.
The deadliest hot air balloon accidents
Fatal hot air balloon accidents have occurred in many nations, including Australia and New Zealand, over the past 30 years.
- Feb 26, 2013: A hot air balloon flying over Luxor, Egypt, caught fire and plunged 1000 feet (300 metres) to the ground, crashing into a sugar cane field and killing at least 19 foreign tourists.
- Aug 23, 2012: Six people died and 26 were injured when a hot air balloon carrying 32 people, mostly tourists including some children, caught fire and crashed near the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana.
- Jan 07, 2012: A hot air balloon struck power lines near Carterton, New Zealand, and exploded, crashing to the ground. All 11 people on board were killed.
- Oct 14, 2009: Four Dutch tourists were killed in Guangxi, China, after pilots lost control and their hot air balloon burst into flames and crashed.
- Aug 26, 2001: Six people including a child were killed when their hot air balloon touched a power line at Verrens-Arvey, in southwestern France.
- June 17, 1999: Four passengers were killed when their hot air balloon hit a power line near Ibbenburen, Germany.
- Jan 31, 1996: Five people died in the Bernese Alps, Switzerland, when their hot air balloon crashed into a mountainside at a height of 8000 feet (2400 metres).
- Aug 8, 1993: Six people were killed when their balloon hit a power line near Aspen, Colorado, tearing off the basket and sending it plunging 100 feet (30 metres) to the ground.
- Dec 11, 1990: Four people died near downtown Columbus, Ohio, after their hot air balloon hit a television tower and deflated.
- Oct 6, 1990: Four people were killed in a balloon crash at Gaenserndorf, near Vienna.
- Aug 13, 1989: Thirteen people were killed when their hot air balloon collided with another over the Australian outback near the town of Alice Springs. The two balloons were flying at an altitude of 2000 feet (600 metres) when one plunged to the ground after the collision.
- Oct 3, 1982: An explosion on board a hot air balloon carrying nine people at a festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico, killed four people and injured five.
- Aug 6, 1981: Five people were killed and one seriously injured when a hot air balloon caught fire after touching electrical wires and crashed in a suburb of Chicago.
- 1785: Two Frenchmen attempting to cross the English Channel in a hot air balloon were killed when their balloon caught fire and crashed, in possibly the first fatal aviation accident.
