http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...rashes-in-central-texas-no-apparent-survivors A hot air balloon carrying at least 16 people crashed in central Texas after catching fire, and the Caldwell County Sheriff said "it does not appear there were any survivors." Sheriff Daniel C. Law said in a statement that "investigators are determining the number and identities of victims at this time." There were "a number of fatalities," Erik Grosof of the National Transportation Safety Board told reporters at the scene. They are classifying this as a "major accident" due to the "significant loss of life." The NTSB is now leading the investigation, he said. The FBI will also assist with scene documentation. NPR's John Burnett, who is at the scene, told our Newscast unit that the balloon "hit some power lines, some very tall power lines in the middle of a sorghum field." Witness Margaret Wylie, who lives in a nearby mobile home, told John that she "heard these pop pops as the hot air balloon hit these high tension wires, and then she saw a great fireball go up, almost as tall as the lowest wires. And she heard a great roar and it scared the cattle next door and they all ran for the barn. And then she ran inside and called 911."
That's terrible. Happened just outside of Lockhart, btw. And how the hell do you fit 16 people on 1 balloon? Ones I've been on could hold maybe 5, max.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Today’s crash was the deadliest hot air balloon crash in U.S. history since NTSB records began. - @<a href="https://twitter.com/JeffreyCook">JeffreyCook</a></p>— Joshua Hoyos (@JoshuaHoyos) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoshuaHoyos/status/759474236276740096" data-datetime="2016-07-30T19:42:22+00:00">July 30, 2016</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
