A8

Heather Clark
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

1 Comment(s)

BERNALILLO, N.M. - A balloon slammed into power lines during Albuquerque's annual hot air balloon fiesta Friday, setting off an explosion that sent burning debris flying as the apparatus disintegrated, authorities and witnesses said. One man was killed and another was critically injured.

Kathie Leyendecker, a spokeswoman for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, said she did not know whether it was the pilot or the passenger who was killed when the Wings of Wind balloon crashed in Bernalillo, just north of Albuquerque.

Authorities said the second person was found unconscious at the scene and remained in critical condition.

"I couldn't believe it," said Glenn Vonderahe, a witness. "I saw the balloon and the next thing I knew there was a lot of fire and smoke. There was total fire under the balloon."

He said he first saw the balloon land, then bounce back up and apparently hit some power lines.

The balloon was stuck in the lines for a time, then Vonderahe saw the balloon portion - called the envelope - float away without the basket and then heard the balloon's propane tanks hit the ground.

"Debris was flying everywhere," he said.

Ambulances arrived quickly at the scene.

The crash will be investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, said National Guard Lt.-Col. John Fishburn.

The yellow, brown and orange balloon, shaped like an upside down triangle, was among hundreds of balloons participating in Friday's events at the balloon fiesta, which runs through Sunday.

"I was excited to see all the balloons, but to have it end like that, I was just shaking like a leaf and my legs felt like Jell-O," said another witness, Terri Bordelon of Sterlington, La. She said she saw someone jump or fall from the gondola.

The festival, held each October, is Albuquerque's pre-eminent tourist draw. Growing from a 1972 gathering at a shopping mall parking lot, it now hosts hundreds of balloons and pilots, and draws tens of thousands of visitors to the city.

But it has had fatalities before, mostly from balloons hitting power lines. Last year, a 60-year-old Oceanside, Calif., woman fell at least 20 metres to her death and three other women were hospitalized after their balloon snagged a power line.

In 1982, four people died when propane tanks on a large balloon exploded.

Other fatalities were recorded in 1990, 1993 and 1998.