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Witnesses to B.C. Hot-Air Balloon Accident Describe Horrific Fiery Crash

Posted on: Saturday, 25 August 2007, 18:12 CDT

By TERRI THEODORE

SURREY, B.C. (CP) - A hot-air balloon burst into flames and plummeted into an RV park in suburban Vancouver, killing two people, as horrified relatives of the dead watched on the ground.

"There were family members on the ground when this tragic event took place," said Sgt. Roger Morrow of Surrey RCMP.

Morrow said he will be holding off on releasing the names of the two people killed because the relatives witnessed the crash.

"You can appreciate when this has taken place right before their eyes, I'm trying to give them that extra bit of breathing time to begin to deal with what they saw."

Witnesses to Friday night's crash describe a horrific scene of chaos and a raging inferno.

"I saw the balloon coming down on the front of the trailer and when it hit, it exploded," said Karen Ashby.

"There were flames and fire, people running. Everybody was in a panic. It was a shock. It was like a war zone here."

Onlookers watched as the balloon caught fire and broke free of its tether, shooting up in the air before everyone managed to escape, then plunging directly onto a trailer.

Eleven people were taken by ground and air ambulances to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Three trailers were destroyed, but luckily about seven people in the trailers got out safely, said Ralph Zandergen, the owner of Hazelmere Trailer Park.

There is little left of the three trailers now, said Zandergen, and the one in the middle that was directly hit is just a pile of ashes and a few propane tanks.

Mike Braden, 48, a resident of the RV park, said he looked out his window to see the balloon and its basket in flames.

"The basket broke and it dropped on the trailer and beside the truck," he said.

"It was totally engulfed in flames. (After it crashed), tires were blowing and a few propane tanks went off and it was just an inferno."

One day later the smell of burnt plastic and smoke still permeates the area and puddles of plastic dot the ground.

Ashby, 50, held back tears while she explained how she watched the coroner sift through the blackened wreckage.

"They found the bodies in here," she said. "I watched them take them out."

Though the scene of destruction has Ashby shaken up, she defended the actions of the balloon pilot. She said both her children and her husband have been up in a balloon with the same pilot.

She said he was very responsible and that "you couldnt ask for a better person that flies that balloon."

"That was a pure accident. Something malfunctioned. Something went wrong. That man would have never done anything if he would have thought there would be any harm to anybody."

The balloon caught fire as it prepared to launch, said Bill Yearwood, an investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

"The crew loaded 12 passengers and was preparing to launch when a fire erupted. The pilot asked the passengers to get out of the basket," he said. "The balloon was tethered at the time, but then broke and came loose," he added.

"They were all trying to get out."

After most of the passengers escaped, the balloon exploded in a fireball and shot up into the air. Shortly after, the burning balloon plunged to the ground in the RV park, leaving a tail of thick black smoke in its wake.

He said the pilot is in stable condition.

"I can't tell you what exactly happened when the balloon was loosened from the tether," Yearwood said. "We will be talking to attending crew members and the pilot to find out."

As the ashes cooled, John and Kathy Reynolds arrived home from a seven-day Alaskan cruise to see the blackened remains of their home.

They had been warned there wasn't much left of their recreational vehicle.

"Our beautiful backyard is still there. We could pitch a tent out there," Kathy Reynolds joked with tears in her eyes.

John Reynolds said he had planned to buy insurance for the RV when he returned from the cruise.

Source: Canadian Press

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