Sixteen people were killed on Saturday when a hot air balloon caught fire and crashed in the southern US state of Texas, local authorities and federal investigators said. The Caldwell County Sheriff's Department was called at 7:44 am (1244 GMT) to an incident in a rural area west of Lockhart, 65 kilometres south of Austin, the state capital. First responders found a hot air balloon with a basket that appeared to have burned. "The balloon was occupied, and 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 to dpa. National Transportation Safety Board officials were at the scene and said they would conduct a thorough investigation of the crash. Video from the scene showed a large power transmission line along the crash site.
