British crash survivor leaped from balloon
Source: Agencies |
March 1, 2013, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
EGYPT'S lead investigator is seeking to interview the only tourist who survived the crash of a hot air balloon in the southern city of Luxor, a British national who jumped from the balloon after it caught fire and before it plummeted to the ground, killing 19 others, including his wife.
Michael Rennie escaped with only minor injuries and no burns, a neurologist who is treating him at a Cairo hospital said yesterday.
The only other survivor, the balloon's Egyptian pilot who also jumped out, suffered heavy burns.
The sightseeing balloon on a sunrise flight on Tuesday over the ancient monuments of Luxor was carrying 20 tourists from Britain, Hong Kong, Japan, Belgium, Hungary and France. It was in the process of landing when a fuel line for the burner heating the air in the balloon broke, sparking a fire, according to preliminary indications.
Rennie and the Egyptian pilot managed to escape the balloon's gondola when it was still relatively close to the ground. The balloon then rose back up some 300 meters into the air. The fire spread to the balloon itself, which burst, sending it plummeting into a sugar cane field.
Witnesses have said some of the tourists still trapped in the burning balloon as it rose jumped to their deaths trying to escape.
Amateur video taken from another balloon flying nearby shows it crashing it back to the earth like a fireball into a sugar cane field.
Rennie told his doctors that he fell in a muddy area, and this helped him. "There are no fractures. He only has minor bruises and scratches," his doctors said. His wife was killed in the crash.
Rennie told criminal investigators that most of those in the balloon squatted when the fire broke out, following the pilot's instructions, according to the Egyptian newspaper Al-Watan.
Rennie is expected to be released today and will head straight to the airport, according to his doctors.
Michael Rennie escaped with only minor injuries and no burns, a neurologist who is treating him at a Cairo hospital said yesterday.
The only other survivor, the balloon's Egyptian pilot who also jumped out, suffered heavy burns.
The sightseeing balloon on a sunrise flight on Tuesday over the ancient monuments of Luxor was carrying 20 tourists from Britain, Hong Kong, Japan, Belgium, Hungary and France. It was in the process of landing when a fuel line for the burner heating the air in the balloon broke, sparking a fire, according to preliminary indications.
Rennie and the Egyptian pilot managed to escape the balloon's gondola when it was still relatively close to the ground. The balloon then rose back up some 300 meters into the air. The fire spread to the balloon itself, which burst, sending it plummeting into a sugar cane field.
Witnesses have said some of the tourists still trapped in the burning balloon as it rose jumped to their deaths trying to escape.
Amateur video taken from another balloon flying nearby shows it crashing it back to the earth like a fireball into a sugar cane field.
Rennie told his doctors that he fell in a muddy area, and this helped him. "There are no fractures. He only has minor bruises and scratches," his doctors said. His wife was killed in the crash.
Rennie told criminal investigators that most of those in the balloon squatted when the fire broke out, following the pilot's instructions, according to the Egyptian newspaper Al-Watan.
Rennie is expected to be released today and will head straight to the airport, according to his doctors.
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