Two dead in Canada balloon fire

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A hot air balloon flying over western Canada has burst into flames, killing two people and injuring 11 others.

Witnesses said the balloon exploded in a fireball and shot into the air over a Vancouver suburb shortly after takeoff.

They said passengers, some with their clothes alight, jumped from the craft before the basket plunged to earth and caused a fire in a trailer park.

Canadian mounted police said the families of the two victims watched the tragedy unfold from the ground.

Propane tanks are thought to have caused the trailer park blaze which saw vehicles damaged but no injuries.

Eruption

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sergeant Roger Morrow said: "It's just tragic. They [the families of the victims] watched it unfold before their eyes. The fatalities suffered from burns."

He added: "We're exceptionally lucky that nobody in any of these three trailers or in the vehicles that were destroyed were caught in them."

Bill Yearwood, an investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, said: "The crew loaded 12 passengers and was preparing to launch when a fire erupted.

"The pilot asked the passengers to get out of the basket. The balloon was tethered at the time, but then broke and came loose. They were all trying to get out."

The balloon pilot is in a stable condition

Trailer park resident Don Randall said: "The thing went up about 400ft (120 metres) in the air at which point it melted enough of the balloon - it collapsed.

"I'm just thinking, 'Oh geez, I hope there's nobody in that thing - it's basically a burning death up there'."