Two tourists killed and three injured in hot air balloon crash
Strong wind has been blamed for the heavy landing.
Two people are dead and three others hurt after a hot air balloon made a crash landing in Turkey.
The Spanish victims were killed after the accident in the central Cappadocia region, where millions of tourists go sightseeing every year.
There were 28 tourists and two crew members on board when the balloon made a hard landing after the tour of volcanic rock formations.
None of the injured are thought to be in a life-threatening condition.
Balloons regularly fly low above scenic canyons and cone-shaped volcanic formations and though accidents are rare they are not unheard of.
The Nevsehir province’s governor’s office said the accident was caused by a ‘sudden increase of wind’.
‘The hot air balloon came down abruptly at 8.50 am (6.50am British time) after it unexpectedly became very windy,’ the governor’s office said.
Emergency services rushed to the scene but were unable to save the two Spaniards.
The balloon had taken off from a monastery near the town of Avanos.
The Cappadocia region, 190 miles south of the capital, Ankara, is famed for its ‘fairy chimney’ rock-formations, underground cities and churches carved into mountainsides.
Turkish authorities have launched an inquiry into the accident.
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In 2013, three Brazilian tourists died and 22 other people were injured when two hot air balloons collided.
Four years later, a Danish tourist died when a balloon crash-landed in high winds.
Two months after that incident, a French diplomat was killed and several other people were injured when their balloon hit a power line.
Around the world, 28 people died in Egypt in July in a hot air balloon, while the same month a plane was forced to avoid a balloon in Brazil.
Last year, a balloon was forced to make an emergency landing in Australia and in the UK at least one person was injured when one crash landed into a pub.
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