Man in 20s killed as hot air balloon bursts into flames and crashes to the ground

A man in his 20s has died after the hot air balloon he was flying burst into flames and crashed to the ground.

Bystanders in the village of Ombersley, Worcestershire, described seeing a "fireball" and heard "screaming" coming from the balloon as it plummeted on Sunday morning.

This weekend saw hundreds of people enjoying the first Worcester Balloon Festival at the city's racecourse, but organisers said the crashed balloon was not connected to the event.

Firefighters, paramedics and police rushed to the scene after receiving a call at around 6.20am, but they were unable to save the pilot, who was declared dead at the scene.

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One eyewitness told how he was driving down the A449 from Kidderminster to Worcester when he saw the balloon explode.

He said: "I told my partner to take a picture because the balloons looked lovely. Seconds later one of them burst into flames and plummeted to the ground.

"Once it caught fire it went up like tissue paper, it was burnt in about 10 seconds. We couldn't believe it.

"We thought from that height there would definitely be a fatality. It fell like a rocket and shook us up to watch."

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Another witness said: "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."

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A Worcester Balloon Festival spokesperson 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."

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch, which looks into civil aircraft accidents and serious incidents in the UK, will now launch an investigation.

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