One moment the sunrise air escapade was quite peaceful, but the next moment, eight people were killed and 13 more people were injured when a hot air balloon that was carrying 21 passengers exploded into flames and immediately fell out of the sky in southern Brazil.
The grimly accident took place on Saturday in the morning 21 June 2008 over Praia Grande which is a pretty area on the Santa Catarina state where people commonly go on a hot air balloon ride.
Eyewitnesses and the police stated that the balloon which belonged to tourism firm Sobrevoar Serviicos Turisticos was in a mid-flight when the fire arose in the basket. Early videos recently spreading on the
Internet depict flames literally embracing the balloon and sending it down quickly before reascending moments later only to come down to fall. There are screams as people cannot do anything but observe it on the ground.
Passengers described a hopeless situation when the pilot yelled after touching the degree of the fire and asked other people to jump. Officer Tiago Luiz Lemos said that when it was near the ground he instructed people to jump.
Within a balloon, thirteen people including the pilot escaped with their lives by jumping out of the balloon. The loss of weight resulted in them shooting upwards causing the inability of the other passengers to escape as they got engulfed in flames.
Investigation is still in progress to know at which point the fire originated. Pilot testified early that there was probably a failure of the backup gas burner which was stowed away in the basket. The ignition could have started up on an automatic burner,
as the catalyst to the fire. The pilot explained to Brazilian outlet Jornal Razao he did not know whether it continued burning or it reignited of its own accord but it was the torch that started the whole process.
Possible apportion of wind conditions is also under the investigation by authorities. The Chief of the Civil Police of Santa Catarina, Ulisses Gabriel, said that the balloon still needed ground stabilization at take off. There was a truck attached to the balloon through cable to assist in keeping it stable.
According to Gabriel who spoke to Globo News, there was a truck dragging the balloon linked to a cable that was flying very hard. This is the movement that might have led to the fire due to the effect of gas leakage.
In spite of that the balloon was made of flame-retardant materials, the fire could not be stopped by it due to its spreading too quickly. An agonising end.
Some of the victims who lost their lives were two couples, a mother and a teenage daughter, a young professional figure skater, and an ophthalmologist known well in the community.
Police showed that three of the victims were found holding each other a painful look at the lasts moments of their lives. “It is a pain to soul,” Gabriel tweeted.
A local witness wrote: ‘We have seen two people fall on fire,’ they wrote to reporters. The basket broke and the balloon fell down. Said another, when they reached the crash they found, by the roadside, a woman in a shock, covered with mud, and a man limping, and the balloon burning in a corner of the woods.
The emergency units immediately cordoned off the vicinity citing chances of explosions due to gas leaks. The firefighters were trying to manage the fire when smoke billowed over the tree tops. It was a 45-
minute flight supposed to take place at an altitude of about 1,000 meters, but what once seemed a dream trip to the flight participants became a nightmare with each of them paying about 550 reais or slightly more than $100.
Brazilian authorities were very quick in reacting to the tragedy. Governor Jorginho Mello who is currently on an official trip to China, made a video message to declare a mourning period. Noting that, he said: We are grieving; this is a tragedy. President Luiz InA regretted Lula de SILVA also offered federal support to help victims and their families.
These sentiments were also echoed by the office of the city of Praia Grande, which offered to do everything it can to support the families that lost their loved ones and the tragedy was described as one of the darkest days in the town in recent history.
The National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) in Brazil has launched an investigation. The public safety department in the region of Santa Catarina has shown to provide a report by giving a detailed report within 30 days. Interviews: All the survivors which include the pilot are being interviewed as a part of the inquiry.
In the meantime, Sobrevoar Serviocos Tursticos have vacuumed all its businesses. Through a statement to the press, the company stated the following: “Although we did everything possible and could expect even our own experienced pilot, we must now feel the pain of this traffic accident tragedy.”
It is the second deadly incident of a hot air balloon in Brazil this month. In another flight in June, earlier, a 27-year-old woman was killed and 11 other injured in the airport in São Paulo. These consecutive catastrophes have brought the industry of balloon tourism in a dark place and now they are declaring tougher security policies as an emergency.
Even as the investigators continue to establish the precision cause of this recent tragedy, the country mourns the death of lives taken in what ought to be a memorable experience and full of joy. What is left of the burnt balloon is in the woods of Praia Grande, and it is a dark warning that in a nanosecond, a beautiful thing may turn into annihilation.
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