4 Japanese among 19 dead as hot air balloon explodes over Luxor

National Feb. 26, 2013 - 09:00PM JST ( 19 )

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19 Comments

10

smithinjapanFeb. 26, 2013 - 04:48PM JST

Sweet lord.... how horrible. RIP to all those who perished.
-8

ilbonjokpalFeb. 26, 2013 - 04:55PM JST

How could 21 fit in a balloon basket? Way over weight.
0

gogogoFeb. 26, 2013 - 05:04PM JST

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/26/world/africa/egypt-balloon-deaths/?hpt=hp_t1

CNN report 4 Japanese died
-9

BurakuminDesFeb. 26, 2013 - 05:16PM JST

Rest in peace to the poor victims of this unbelievable tragedy. It beggars belief foreigners would want to risk their lives in hot air balloons in places such as Egypt or Turkey with shoddy safety standards - if any. At least they maybe went out having the time of their lives.
9

Harry_GattoFeb. 26, 2013 - 05:18PM JST

How could 21 fit in a balloon basket? Way over weight.

How do you know the capacity of the basket? There are balloons capable of carrying that number of people, don't assume, wait for the facts.
1

dctokyo2002Feb. 26, 2013 - 05:28PM JST

A health official in Luxor told NBC News that the victims include 9 from Hong Kong, 4 from Japan, 2 from the UK, 2 from France and two others who have not been identified.
2

EppeeFeb. 26, 2013 - 05:38PM JST

BurakuminDesFeb. 26, 2013 - 05:16PM JST "It beggars belief foreigners would want to risk their lives in hot air balloons in places such as Egypt or Turkey with shoddy safety standards - if any. " Not sure why you are talking about Turkey here... I am curious, why Egypt would have shoddy safety standards for their hot air balloons ?! I have seen plane pilots in Japan make very basic and dangerous mistakes, country which I guess has very high safety standards on your scale.
-1

No MisoFeb. 26, 2013 - 05:59PM JST

Japanese among 19 dead as hot air balloon explodes over Luxor

It's tragic, and not wishing to make little of it, but how does hot air "explode"? Heaven help them if one of the fuel cylinders went up, as that would have been right above their heads. Awful.
-2

Cortes ElijahFeb. 26, 2013 - 06:41PM JST

This is tragic. I read about this on news.com.au. Imagine that? Up in the air helpless with nothing you can do. I'm not a hot air balloon expert but surely this is something to do with poor maintenance?
-4

basroilFeb. 26, 2013 - 06:45PM JST

No MisoFeb. 26, 2013 - 05:59PM JST

It's tragic, and not wishing to make little of it, but how does hot air "explode"?

How do you make hot air? You burn propane. If you didn't know it, a single propane canister like those used in hot air balloons (also used in most Japanese cities in unprotected streetside heating gas canisters that can get hit by cars) has the explosive power of a 500lb bomb under the right conditions.

Since it's highly unlikely that this one actually blevied (which happens only when there's external fire, likely to happen in Japan but not a balloon), very likely a fuel line ruptured and spewed flames around, but didn't actually explode.
-1

basroilFeb. 26, 2013 - 06:47PM JST

The balloon which was carrying 21 people was flying at 300 meters caught fire when it caught fire, a security official said.

I think they stopped caring about using editors for their news... how can something that just caught on fire catch fire again?
0

FPSRussiaFeb. 26, 2013 - 07:00PM JST

This is really sad news. My heart goes out to those tourists. Hopefully conditions will improve after this. Operators of such tours must have strict safety standards.
0

SauloJpnFeb. 26, 2013 - 09:19PM JST

What a terrible way to go.Must have been some really agonizing last few seconds!!! How tragic!!! RIP
-1

DudeDeuceFeb. 26, 2013 - 11:08PM JST

RIP to those lost lives.

Too many tragedies happening abroad of late. I hope this doesn't deter tourism abroad.
0

gelendestrasseFeb. 27, 2013 - 02:16AM JST

Tragic accident. There are risks involved with any flying. It's safe but it's not perfect.
-2

Kimokekahuna HawaiiFeb. 27, 2013 - 04:40AM JST

The pilot knew to jump and survived?
0

sfjp330Feb. 27, 2013 - 05:58AM JST

BurakuminDesFeb. 26, 2013 - 05:16PM JST Rest in peace to the poor victims of this unbelievable tragedy. It beggars belief foreigners would want to risk their lives in hot air balloons in places such as Egypt or Turkey with shoddy safety standards - if any. At least they maybe went out having the time of their lives.

Hot air baloon accidents can happen anywhere. It has happened few years ago Napa Valley, California, in the U.S. where there is a strict safety standards.
-1

lostrune2Feb. 27, 2013 - 02:15PM JST

It's the lithium batteries, isn't it?
0

No MisoFeb. 28, 2013 - 12:47PM JST

The pilot knew to jump and survived?

There is lot of speculation on what happened. One witness interviewed on TV last night stated that the pilot's face and arms were on fire, then he jumped out.