Two die in balloon fire

VANCOUVER, B.C. — A hot air balloon burst into flames over western Canada, burning a woman and her adult daughter to death while their families watched, officials said Saturday. Other passengers leaped to the ground, some with their clothes in flames, witnesses said.

Eleven passengers were seriously injured when the balloon crashed Friday evening in a recreational vehicle park near the U.S. border in Surrey, B.C., a suburb of Vancouver. There were 12 passengers and a pilot onboard, police and witnesses said.

John Kageorge, who works for Fantasy Balloon Charters, said the fire started as the balloon was about to launch. Kageorge said three passengers did not get out of the basket before it became airborne.

“One person jumped from an unsafe distance, two stories in the air or more,” said Kageorge. The mother and daughter did not jump, he said, although two of their family members made it out of the basket.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Roger Morrow confirmed the deaths and said relatives of the two passengers killed witnessed the fire.

“It’s just tragic. They watched it unfold before their eyes,” Morrow said of the family. “The fatalities suffered from burns.”

The balloon caught fire as it prepared to launch, said Bill Yearwood, an investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

“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,” he said. “The balloon was tethered at the time, but then broke and came loose,” he added.

“They were all trying to get out.”

After most of the passengers escaped, the balloon exploded in a fireball and shot up into the air. Shortly after, the burning balloon plunged to ground in the RV park, leaving a tail of thick black smoke in its wake.

Another resident, Karen Ashby, held back tears while she explained how she watched the coroner sift through the blackened wreckage.

“They found the bodies in here,” Ashby said. “I watched them take them out.”