A tragic hot air balloon crash killed a man in his 20s this morning, with pictures showing the devastating aftermath of the incident.
The balloon burst into flames at around 6:20am on Sunday morning in Worcestershire, resulting in “screaming” coming from a “fireball” as the balloon came crashing down.
Pictures show the hot air balloon tangled up in the trees near Ombersley Court, a large country home.
The accident took place the morning after hundreds attended the inaugural Worcester Balloon Festival - having been cancelled last month due to bad weather, it was rearranged for this Friday and Saturday.
Denying any connection to the festival an event spokesperson said: “It wasn’t the festival, it was independent. The festival finished last night”.
One eye witness said there were “lots of balloons in the sky” despite it being so early. They described a “flash and what looked like a fireball coming from a blue balloon”.
“It just dropped like a stone. My wife heard terrible screaming and then silence. We called the emergency services but had difficulty getting through on the 999 number because it was down.
“We finally got through but it was just too high for anyone to survive. It was a terrible thing to see.”
Police, paramedics and firefighters were all summoned to the scene but could do nothing to help the young pilot who was pronounced dead at the scene.
A spokesperson for West Mercia police said: “At 6.20am this morning police received a call that a hot air balloon had deflated and fallen to the ground near the A449 at Ombersley.
“The balloon fell to the ground in a field off Holt Fleet Road, near Ombersley Court.
“Emergency services attended and unfortunately a man was pronounced dead by paramedics.
“The Air Accident Investigation Branch will now carry out an investigation.”
Hereford and Worcestershire Fire Service spokesperson said: “We went out to an incident involving a hot air balloon in Ombersley on the Holt Fleet Road.
"We had a call at 6.23am, crews from Worcester, Droitwich, Wyre Forest, Evesham and Bromsgrove. We have left the scene now, but we have left it to the police.”
The terrible accident was reported to the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) who sent a team out to the site.
