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| Texas hot air balloon crash causes 'significant loss of life' | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| A hot air balloon carrying at least 16 people crashed in central Texas on Saturday, apparently leaving no survivors. A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) spokesman at the scene said there had been “significant loss of life”. | |
| In a statement emailed to the Guardian, Lynn Lunsford, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), said the balloon caught fire in flight at about 7.40am local time. The balloon crashed into a pasture near Lockhart, about 30 miles south of Austin. | |
| “It does not appear at this time that there were any survivors of the crash,” Caldwell County sheriff Daniel Law said in a statement provided by his office. | “It does not appear at this time that there were any survivors of the crash,” Caldwell County sheriff Daniel Law said in a statement provided by his office. |
| Lunsford said investigators from the FAA and the NTSB were en route to the scene. She could not confirm the condition of the balloon’s passengers. | |
| Later, at a short press briefing near the crash site, NTSB spokesperson Erik Grosof would only confirm “a number of fatalities” and “significant loss of life”. | |
| He declined to give any details about the scene or to hypothesize on how the crash might have happened, saying investigators from the agency as well as local and federal authorities including the FBI’s evidence response team would help analyze the scene. | |
| “This is a normal practice for the NTSB in events that are classified as major accidents, and that’s what this case is,” he said. | |
| Weather experts, victim identification experts and other specialists would come to the scene, Grosof added. “Much like a crime scene, you only get one chance at it so we want to make sure we do everything correctly.” | |
| Sheriff Law told reporters: “We’re just as much at loss as you are trying to sift through the way this thing has come about.” | |
| The NTSB official said that a balloon ride company called Heart of Texas was believed to have run the hot air balloon. The sheriff said the company did not have a passenger list, to his knowledge. | |
| “When it’s a balloon ride like this anybody can buy tickets,” he said, “anybody can get off.” | |
| The land near the crash site is mostly farmland with corn crops and grazing cattle, the Associated Press reported, adding that the site of the crash appeared to be below a row of high-capacity power lines about four or five stories tall. | The land near the crash site is mostly farmland with corn crops and grazing cattle, the Associated Press reported, adding that the site of the crash appeared to be below a row of high-capacity power lines about four or five stories tall. |
| Lockhart’s police and fire departments did not immediately return requests for details. | Lockhart’s police and fire departments did not immediately return requests for details. |
| The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, said in a statement: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families, as well as the Lockhart community.” | The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, said in a statement: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families, as well as the Lockhart community.” |