Hot air balloon crash in Egypt kills 19 tourists
Source: Agencies |
February 27, 2013, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A HOT air balloon flying over Egypt's ancient city of Luxor caught fire and crashed into a sugar cane field yesterday, killing at least 19 foreign tourists in one of the world's deadliest ballooning accidents and handing a new blow to Egypt's ailing tourism industry.
The casualties included nine tourists from Hong Kong and French, British, Belgian, Hungarian and Japanese nationals, Luxor's governor, Ezzat Saad, said. Three survivors - two British tourists and the Egyptian pilot - were taken to a local hospital, but one of the Britons later died.
Egypt's civil aviation minister, Wael el-Maadawi, suspended hot air balloon flights and flew to Luxor to lead an investigation into the crash.
The balloon, which was carrying 20 tourists and a pilot, was landing after a flight over the southern town, when a landing cable got caught around a helium tube and a fire erupted, according to an investigator with the state prosecutor's office.
The balloon then shot up in the air, the investigator said. The fire set off an explosion of a gas canister and the balloon plunged some 300 meters to the ground, according to an Egyptian security official. It crashed in a sugar cane field outside al-Dhabaa village just west of Luxor, 510 kilometers south of Cairo, the official said.
Bodies were scattered across the field around the remnants of the balloon. A reporter at the crash site counted eight bodies as they were put into body bags and taken away. The security official said all 18 bodies have been recovered.
Hot air ballooning is a popular pastime for tourists in Luxor, usually at sunrise to give a dramatic view over the pharaonic temples of Karnak and Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, a desert valley where many pharaoh, notably King Tutenkhamun, were buried.
Luxor has seen crashes in the past. In 2009, 16 tourists were injured when their balloon struck a cellphone transmission tower. A year earlier, seven tourists were injured in a similar crash.
Yesterday's toll puts the crash among the deadliest involving a recreation hot air balloon. In 1989, 13 people were killed when their hot air balloon collided with another over the Australian outback near the town of Alice Springs.
A Japanese couple in their 60s were among the four Japanese who were killed, according to the head of Japan Travel Bureau's Egypt branch, Atsushi Imaeda.
In Hong Kong, a travel agency said nine of the tourists aboard the balloon were natives of the Chinese city. There was a "very big chance that all nine have perished," said Raymond Ng, a spokesman for the agency. They were five women and four men from three families, he said, traveling with six other Hong Kong residents on a 10-day tour of Egypt.
Ng said an escort of the nine tourists watched the balloon from the ground catching fire around 7am and plunging to the ground two minutes later.
In Britain, tour operator Thomas Cook confirmed that two British tourists were killed in the crash, and a third later died in the hospital. Another British survivor and the Egyptian pilot were being treated in the hospital.
"What happened in Luxor this morning is a terrible tragedy and the thoughts of everyone in Thomas Cook are with our guests, their family and friends," said Peter Fankhauser, CEO of Thomas Cook UK & Continental Europe. He said the firm was providing "full support" to the victims' families.
In Paris, a diplomatic official said French tourists were among those involved, but would give no details on how many, or whether French citizens were among those killed.
French media reports said two French tourists were among the dead but the official wouldn't confirm that.
Egypt's tourism industry has been decimated since the 2011 uprising and the political turmoil that followed and continues to this day. Luxor's hotels are currently about 25 percent full in what is supposed to be the peak of the winter season.
Scared off by the turmoil and tenuous security following the uprising, the number of tourists coming to Egypt fell to 9.8 million in 2011 from 14.7 million the year before, and revenues plunged 30 percent to US$8.8 billion.
Magda Fawzi, whose company operates four luxury Nile River cruise boats to Luxor, said she expects the accident will lead to tourist cancellations. Tour guide Hadi Salama said he expects the accident to hurt the eight hot air balloon companies operating in Luxor, but that it may not directly affect tourism to the Nile Valley city.
Poverty swelled at the country's fastest rate in Luxor, which is highly dependent on visitors to its temples. In 2011, 39 percent of its population lived on less than US$1 a day, compared to 18 percent in 2009, according to government figures.
In August, Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi flew to Luxor to encourage tourism there, about a month after he took office and vowed that Egypt was safe for tourists.
"Egypt is safer than before, and is open for all," he said in remarks carried by the official MENA news agency at the time. He was referring to the security situation following the 2011 ousting of Hosni Mubarak.
Deadly accidents caused by poor management and a decrepit infrastructure have taken place since Morsi took office. In January, 19 Egyptian conscripts died when their rickety train jumped the track. In November, 49 kindergarteners were killed when their school bus crashed into a speeding train because the railway guard failed to close the crossing.
The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most powerful political force and Morsi's base of support, blames accidents on a culture of negligence fostered by Mubarak.
The casualties included nine tourists from Hong Kong and French, British, Belgian, Hungarian and Japanese nationals, Luxor's governor, Ezzat Saad, said. Three survivors - two British tourists and the Egyptian pilot - were taken to a local hospital, but one of the Britons later died.
Egypt's civil aviation minister, Wael el-Maadawi, suspended hot air balloon flights and flew to Luxor to lead an investigation into the crash.
The balloon, which was carrying 20 tourists and a pilot, was landing after a flight over the southern town, when a landing cable got caught around a helium tube and a fire erupted, according to an investigator with the state prosecutor's office.
The balloon then shot up in the air, the investigator said. The fire set off an explosion of a gas canister and the balloon plunged some 300 meters to the ground, according to an Egyptian security official. It crashed in a sugar cane field outside al-Dhabaa village just west of Luxor, 510 kilometers south of Cairo, the official said.
Bodies were scattered across the field around the remnants of the balloon. A reporter at the crash site counted eight bodies as they were put into body bags and taken away. The security official said all 18 bodies have been recovered.
Hot air ballooning is a popular pastime for tourists in Luxor, usually at sunrise to give a dramatic view over the pharaonic temples of Karnak and Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, a desert valley where many pharaoh, notably King Tutenkhamun, were buried.
Luxor has seen crashes in the past. In 2009, 16 tourists were injured when their balloon struck a cellphone transmission tower. A year earlier, seven tourists were injured in a similar crash.
Yesterday's toll puts the crash among the deadliest involving a recreation hot air balloon. In 1989, 13 people were killed when their hot air balloon collided with another over the Australian outback near the town of Alice Springs.
A Japanese couple in their 60s were among the four Japanese who were killed, according to the head of Japan Travel Bureau's Egypt branch, Atsushi Imaeda.
In Hong Kong, a travel agency said nine of the tourists aboard the balloon were natives of the Chinese city. There was a "very big chance that all nine have perished," said Raymond Ng, a spokesman for the agency. They were five women and four men from three families, he said, traveling with six other Hong Kong residents on a 10-day tour of Egypt.
Ng said an escort of the nine tourists watched the balloon from the ground catching fire around 7am and plunging to the ground two minutes later.
In Britain, tour operator Thomas Cook confirmed that two British tourists were killed in the crash, and a third later died in the hospital. Another British survivor and the Egyptian pilot were being treated in the hospital.
"What happened in Luxor this morning is a terrible tragedy and the thoughts of everyone in Thomas Cook are with our guests, their family and friends," said Peter Fankhauser, CEO of Thomas Cook UK & Continental Europe. He said the firm was providing "full support" to the victims' families.
In Paris, a diplomatic official said French tourists were among those involved, but would give no details on how many, or whether French citizens were among those killed.
French media reports said two French tourists were among the dead but the official wouldn't confirm that.
Egypt's tourism industry has been decimated since the 2011 uprising and the political turmoil that followed and continues to this day. Luxor's hotels are currently about 25 percent full in what is supposed to be the peak of the winter season.
Scared off by the turmoil and tenuous security following the uprising, the number of tourists coming to Egypt fell to 9.8 million in 2011 from 14.7 million the year before, and revenues plunged 30 percent to US$8.8 billion.
Magda Fawzi, whose company operates four luxury Nile River cruise boats to Luxor, said she expects the accident will lead to tourist cancellations. Tour guide Hadi Salama said he expects the accident to hurt the eight hot air balloon companies operating in Luxor, but that it may not directly affect tourism to the Nile Valley city.
Poverty swelled at the country's fastest rate in Luxor, which is highly dependent on visitors to its temples. In 2011, 39 percent of its population lived on less than US$1 a day, compared to 18 percent in 2009, according to government figures.
In August, Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi flew to Luxor to encourage tourism there, about a month after he took office and vowed that Egypt was safe for tourists.
"Egypt is safer than before, and is open for all," he said in remarks carried by the official MENA news agency at the time. He was referring to the security situation following the 2011 ousting of Hosni Mubarak.
Deadly accidents caused by poor management and a decrepit infrastructure have taken place since Morsi took office. In January, 19 Egyptian conscripts died when their rickety train jumped the track. In November, 49 kindergarteners were killed when their school bus crashed into a speeding train because the railway guard failed to close the crossing.
The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most powerful political force and Morsi's base of support, blames accidents on a culture of negligence fostered by Mubarak.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
