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Two dead and one missing in Virginia hot-air balloon accident Two dead and one missing in Virginia hot-air balloon accident
(about 3 hours later)
Two people were killed and another missing after a hot air balloon hit a power line and caught fire over Virginia during a festival, police said on Saturday. A second body was recovered on Saturday from the crash of a hot-air balloon carrying three people that drifted into a power line and burst into flames in front of hundreds of horrified spectators.
Authorities have not identified the victims and were conducting a search in the air and with more than 100 people on the ground for the third person who was in the balloon's basket at the time of the Friday evening accident, about 30 miles north of Richmond. More than 100 searchers were called in to scour the woods and fields of the central Virginia site of the crash for the third victim and any remnants of the balloon or its basket, state police said. None of the victims has been identified.
"We still have not located the basket or the balloon. We do continue to keep finding debris and various items that would have been on the hot air balloon," Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller told a televised news conference. Witnesses said they heard the anguished pleas of the passengers Friday night as the balloon touched the power line and erupted into flames.
She said there were eyewitness reports that two people were seen tumbling from the basket after the balloon caught fire, but said it was unclear if they fell or jumped. On the ground, "It was complete silence," eyewitness Nancy Johnson said. "There were people praying. It was horrible."
Two other balloons had landed at a designated landing site before the accident with the third balloon, Geller said. The balloon crashed on Friday night ahead of an inaugural balloon festival. It was among 13 balloons that took off from Meadow Event Park, home to the State Fair of Virginia, and was approaching a landing site nearby. Two of the balloons landed safely before the third hit the live power line.
A first body was found in a heavily wooded area shortly before midnight, Geller said earlier on Saturday. The balloon and gondola carrying the pilot and two passengers had not been found, she said. The pilot attempted to retain control of the balloon and snuff the fire and two passengers either jumped or fell from the gondola, state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said.
Witnesses posted photos online showing a balloon in mid-air with its basket engulfed in flames and a trail of smoke spilling into the sky. "Then witnesses recall hearing an explosion and the fire continued to spread," Geller said. The gondola and the balloon then separated.
Many said there was an explosion as it hit the line and the balloon then separated from the basket carrying the passengers. People on the ground could hear screams from those in the balloon, witnesses said. Federal investigators were at the scene in rural Carolina County.
"They were just screaming for anybody to help them," resident Carrie Hager-Bradley told a local NBC affiliate. Troy Bradley, past president of the Balloon Federation of America, said most serious accidents on balloons including fires, electrocution or baskets becoming severed happen after hitting power lines. Most of the time it's due to pilot error, he said.
"'Help me, help me, sweet Jesus, help. I'm going to die. Oh my God, I'm going to die,'" Hager-Bradley said she heard one person screaming. Fatal accidents happen less often than with other types of aircraft, Bradley said.
More than 20 hot-air balloon teams from across the US were to take part at the Meadow Event Park in Caroline County. The Saturday and Sunday events were canceled. "Hundreds of thousands of flights will go without any notice. That one that hits the news gets all the attention, but ballooning is a very, very safe form of aviation."
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating the accident. The crash occurred on the eve of the official start of the Mid-Atlantic Balloon Festival, which was canceled followed the crash. The area is about 25 miles north of Richmond. Johnson said the crash occurred in an instant.
"One minute the balloons were hovering in a field behind Event Park, the next everyone is pointing at sky," she said.
Carrie Hager-Bradley said she saw the balloon in flames on her way home from the grocery and heard people yelling.
"They were just screaming for anybody to help them," she told WWBT TV. One person screamed, "Help me, help me, sweet Jesus, help. I'm going to die. Oh my God, I'm going to die."
Donnell Ferguson said he was cutting grass when he saw a couple of balloons passing by. One was low, barely at tree-top level.
"At first I saw a cloud of black smoke and then I noticed the basket on fire," he said. "Then it just took off real fast and disappeared."
The crash occurred during a special festival kickoff event Friday for about 740 people. Twenty balloonists from the Mid-Atlantic region were to participate in the weekend festival, said Greg Hicks, a spokesman for the venue.
"It's just a shocking situation for everyone," Hicks said.
Johnson, who went to the festival with her husband, photographed the balloon as it rose.
"I turned around and just automatically started taking pictures," she said. "It just kept going up, up, up in the air."
Some balloons landed safely in Debra Ferguson's yard, the Free Lance-Star of Fredericksburg reported. One of the men in the balloons pointed up at another still in the air and said he thought it might be in trouble.
"As soon as we looked up, the thing blew up right there," Ferguson told the newspaper. "All I heard was, 'Oh my God, Oh my God,' and all you saw was the top of the balloon still flying, but all of the basket was gone. All of the flames just disappeared … it was like a match poof and then it was gone."