LUXOR, Egypt – A hot air balloon exploded and plunged to earth at Egypt's ancient temple city of Luxor during a sunrise flight Tuesday, killing up to 19 tourists, including Asians and Europeans, sources said. Passengers in the balloon included 19 foreign tourists: nine from Hong Kong, four from Japan, three from Britain, two from France and one from Hungary; one tourist was an Egyptian national. The balloon was landing after a flight over the southern town, when a landing cable got caught around a helium tube and a fire erupted, according to an investigator with the state prosecutor's office. The balloon then shot up in the air, the investigator said. The fire set off an explosion of a gas canister and the balloon plunged some 300 meters (1,000 feet) to the ground, according to an Egyptian security official. It crashed in a sugar cane field outside Al-Dhabaa village just west of Luxor, 510 km south of Cairo, the official said. The pilot survived by jumping from the basket when it was 10-15 meters from the ground, said Ahmed Aboud, head of an association representing Luxor balloon operators. Two other survivors, both British, were treated at Luxor hospital, said Mohamed Mustafa, a doctor at the hospital. Travel firm Thomas Cook later said one of the Britons taken to the hospital had died, taking the number of British tourists killed to three. The fatalities were caused by burns and by the impact, Mustafa said. Bodies of the dead tourists were scattered across the field around the remnants of the balloon. Luxor Governor Ezzat Saad imposed an immediate ban on all hot air balloon flights in the province as Prime Minister Hisham Qandil ordered an investigation into the accident. Security services cordoned off the scene of the crash in Luxor's dense sugar cane fields, as police and residents inspected the charred remains of the balloon. “There was a terrifying sound when the balloon exploded,” one resident, Ahmed, 40, said. “Bodies engulfed in flames were falling out of the balloon,” said Youssef Al-Tayyeb, another resident who witnessed the accident. “My first thought was that it was sugar cane that was burning,” Christopher Michel, a photographer who was on another balloon, told CNN. The burning of sugar cane had given an eerie, smoky feel to the ancient city of Luxor below. But the concern shown by his balloon's pilot and the sound of sirens told Michel that something was wrong. It was an early, dark morning, Michel said, and uneventful for 45 minutes until they started to descend. He was overlooking mud-brick buildings and fields, with the Valley of the Kings in the distance, when the explosion shattered the quiet of the morning. Nine of those killed were thought to be from from Hong Kong, and four from Japan, along the confirmed deaths of two French tourists and three Britons. “We believe that there is a high possibility that nine of our customers have died,” said Raymond Ng, general manager of travel agency Kuoni, which organised the Hong Kongers' tour. The five women and four men were aged between 33 and 62, Ng told a news conference in Hong Kong. Their relatives were to fly to Cairo later on Tuesday accompanied by three Kuoni staff. French hot air ballon expert Philippe Buron-Pilatre de Rozier said the blast could have been caused by a leak after a spark caused by a lighter or a cigarette. Another reason could be wear and tear due to poor maintenance or if the pilot is badly positioned, said Buron-Pilatre de Rozier, adding that hot air balloons such as the ones used in Egypt are generally 40 meters (130 feet) high and can carry up to 25 passengers. – Agencies
