Hot Air Balloon CRash in Luxor Kills 18

Egypt hot air balloon crash kills at least 18 tourists

 

A hot air balloon flying over Egypt's ancient city of Luxor caught fire and crashed into a sugar cane field on Tuesday, killing at least 18 foreign tourists, a security official said. It was one of the worst accidents involving tourists in Egypt and likely to push the key tourism industry deeper into recession. Three survivors of the crash – two tourists and one Egyptian – were taken to a local hospital. Egypt's tourism industry has been decimated since the 18-day uprising in 2011 against autocrat leader Hosni Mubarak and the political turmoil that followed and continues to this day.

Egypt balloon crash passengers ‘jumped from burning aircraft’ as two British tourists among 18 dead in Luxor

Some of the passengers involved in a fatal hot air balloon crash in Luxor, southern Egypt, jumped from the basket as the burning aircraft hurtled towards the ground, an eye-witness has revealed. Two British tourists have been confirmed among 18 people killed in the crash while on a sightseeing trip. Cherry Tohamy, who was on a Luxor balloon flight at around the same time, described the horrific scene she witnessed, saying passengers on the fatal flight were jumping out of the balloon from about the height of a seven-storey building. Specialist tour operator Discover Egypt said none of its holidaymakers were involved but it would immediately cease offering its guests hot air balloon excursions as a precautionary measure until a full and thorough investigation of todays incident has been made.

Egypt hot air balloon crash: '18 tourists, including Britons,...

Eighteen foreign tourists, including at least two Britons, have been killed in Egypt after a hot air balloon crashed near Luxor, in one of the worst tourism accident's in the country's history. The number of Britons killed however is unclear as the tour operator Thomas Cook said two Britons had died and two were in hospital following the crash. Officials today grounded all hot air balloon flights around the ancient sites indefinitely after today's crash. Mr Michel, who had been in Egypt for about eight days on a photography assignment, told The Daily Telegraph that they did not receive any safety briefings.