A man died after a hot air balloon caught fire and plummeted to the ground crashing into trees in Worcestershire, BBC reported. The horrific incident happened on Sunday when witnesses saw the blue-colored balloon turning into a ''fireball'' before plummeting into trees at about 6.20 am.
Firefighters, paramedics, and police rushed to the scene but were unable to save the male pilot, said to be aged in his 20s. He was declared dead at the scene.
A West Mercia Police spokesperson said, ''At 6.20 am this morning police received a call that a hot air balloon had deflated and fallen to the ground near the A449 at Ombersley.''
Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) said that their team is on-site and would carry out an investigation.
A witness told Sky News, ''There were lots of balloons in the sky because it was clear and sunny despite being so early. Suddenly there was a flash and what looked like a fireball coming from a blue balloon and 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."
A hot air balloon festival was said to have been taking place seven miles away from the scene, in Worcester, on Friday and Saturday.
An event spokesperson said the balloon which crashed was independent, and not connected to the festival. He said, "There was an incident this morning, under investigation, it wasn't the festival it was independent. The festival finished last night, it was not connected to the festival."
According to the UK Civil Aviation Authority, there were 10 hot air balloon accidents in the UK during 2014-2018.
