Story out of Lockhart, Texas:
At least 16 people died in the hot air balloon crash in Central Texas, the National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday, adding that investigators are still trying to determine the exact number of passengers.
It's apparently the worst such disaster in U.S. history, and one of the worst ever in the world. In February 2013, a balloon flying over Luxor, Egypt, caught fire and plunged 1,000 feet to the ground, crashing into a sugar cane field and killing at least 19 foreign tourists.
NTSB investigators are beginning the process of determining what caused the balloon to crash, said NTSB member Robert Sumwalt during a news conference Sunday in Washington. He offered few details of what investigators had learned so far, but said they'd look into whether the operator of the balloon filed a passenger manifest before taking off, also noting that balloons do not usually file flight plans.
Saturday's crash happened at about 7:40 a.m. in a pasture. Cutting through that farmland is a row of massive high-capacity electrical transmission lines about 4 to 5 stories tall. The site of the crash appears to be right below the overhead lines, though authorities haven't provided further details about what happened. Aerial photos showed an area of charred pasture underneath power lines. Cont.
Story from - CTV News/AP
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