had the pleasure once , glad it didn't end like this ...............

2 dead, 11 hurt as fire engulfs hot-air balloon



A hot air balloon burst into flames shortly after takeoff in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Witnesses said passengers screamed and jumped to the ground. (Click photo to see video.)

Flames consume motor homes at the Hazelmere trailer park after the balloon crashed there.

VANCOUVER - A hot-air balloon burst into flames on launch in western Canada, burning a woman and her adult daughter to death while their families looked on, officials said yesterday.
Other passengers leaped to the ground, some with their clothes in flames, witnesses said.
John Kageorge, who works for Fantasy Balloon Charters, said the fire started as the balloon was about to go up Friday evening in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb, with 12 passengers and the pilot aboard.
Kageorge said three passengers did not get out of the basket before it became airborne.
"One person jumped from an unsafe distance, two stories in the air or more," said Kageorge.
The mother and daughter did not jump, he said, although two of their relatives made it out of the basket.
In all, 11 people suffered serious injuries.
"The crew loaded 12 passengers and was preparing to launch when a fire erupted," said Bill Yearwood, an investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. "The pilot asked the passengers to get out of the basket. The balloon was tethered at the time, but then broke and came loose."
After most of the passengers escaped, the nine-story balloon exploded in a fireball and shot up into the air. It soon plunged to the ground in a trailer park, leaving a tail of thick black smoke in its wake.
"The thing went up about 400 feet in the air at which point it melted enough of the balloon - it collapsed," said Don Randall, a trailer park resident who took pictures of the scene. "The basket was basically a fireball. It just dropped like a stone.
"I'm just thinking, 'Oh geez, I hope there's nobody in that thing. It's basically a burning death up there.'"
Smoke could be seen billowing from the crash site from miles away.
Yearwood said investigators planned to interview the pilot, who was in stable condition.

nydailynews.com