Hot air balloon catches fire and crashes in southern Brazil, killing eight

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4 hours ago

Eight people have died after a hot air balloon carrying 21 passengers caught fire and fell from the sky in southern Brazil, state officials say.
The incident on Saturday was the second fatal balloon incident in the South American nation in less than a week.
Firefighters in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina said 13 people survived and were taken to hospitals.
Videos taken by bystanders and aired on Brazilian television showed the moment when the balloon erupted in flames above a rural area outside the Atlantic coast town of Praia Grande, a tourist hotspot popular for hot air ballooning.
The basket carrying the passengers plummeted dozens of metres to the ground in flames.
Other images showed some of the passengers jumping.
Officials at Our Lady of Fatima hospital said three of the five survivors treated there were in stable condition with minor injuries, and two had already been discharged.
Information about the other survivors was not immediately available.
An investigation was launched to determine the cause of the accident. Weather conditions were clear at the time.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he was placing the federal government at the disposal of victims and local authorities.
"I want to express my solidarity with the families of the victims," he said.
The crash happened at about 8am local time (9pm AEST), said Lieutenant Colonel Zevir Cipriano Jr, a military firefighter.
The balloon pilot told officials the fire was sparked by a blowtorch — used to ignite the balloon's main flame — in the basket, Tiago Luiz Lemos, a police official in Praia Grande, told local media.
The pilot tried to bring the balloon down as soon as the fire erupted, "and once it was close to the ground, he told the passengers to jump from the basket. But some of them couldn't do it and the fire grew," the official said.
Four people were burned to death and four others died from injuries sustained in the fall, Lieutenant Colonel Cipriano Junior told reporters.
One witness told a local newspaper that he saw "two people falling, they were on fire, the basket broke off and the balloon fell".
Three people died hugging each other, said Ulisses Gabriel, chief of Santa Catarina's civil police force, on X.
Praia Grande is a common destination for hot air ballooning, a popular activity in parts of southern Brazil.
The area is famous for its dramatic canyon landscapes and is known as the "Brazilian Cappadocia", a reference to a region in central Turkey famed worldwide for stunning hot air balloon rides.
Last Sunday, a balloon came down in Sao Paulo state, killing a 27-year-old woman and injuring 11 other people, according to local media.
AFP/AP