UK Man Dies After Hot Air Balloon Catches Fire and Falls to Ground in Worcestershire – News18

A man has died after a hot air balloon caught fire and fell to the ground in Worcestershire in UK, police said.

The horrific incident occurred in Holt Fleet Road in Ombersley, Worcestershire when witnesses saw the blue-colored balloon turning into a “fireball” before it “dropped like a stone” on to the trees at about 6.20 am on Sunday.

Firefighters, paramedics, and police rushed to the scene but were unable to save the male pilot. The man, said to be in his 20s, was declared dead at the scene.

West Mercia Police said they received a call that a hot air balloon had deflated and fallen to the ground in a field near the village. They added that the man was pronounced dead by paramedics and the Air Accident Investigation Branch would carry out an investigation.

The incident occurred a day after a hot air balloon festival had been taking place 11 km away from the scene, in Worcester on Friday and Saturday.

However, the event spokesperson said the balloon which crashed was independent and not part of the festival.

“There was an incident this morning, under investigation, it wasn’t the festival it was independent. The festival finished last night, it was not connected to the festival,” he said.

An eyewitness said that they were in the garden at around 6 am when they saw two hot air balloons in the sky.

“One seemed to be alright, but as the other one was going I could see something wasn’t right with it – it was semi-deflated,” the eyewitness said.

“Though it was quite a way from me, you can usually see flames, we get quite a lot of balloons over here… then it just started to sort of fold up and then it, literally I blinked, and it had disappeared,” the eyewitness added.

According to the UK Civil Aviation Authority, there were 10 hot air balloon accidents in the UK between 2014 and 2018.