Hot air balloon crashes in Peru
Tourist hot air balloons float during dawn across Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, near Luxor on November 15, 2007.
Just two months after a hot air balloon crash in Egypt left 18 people dead, another hot air balloon disaster has happened, this time in Peru.
The red-and-white balloon was carrying six passengers and a pilot. It crashed off the coast of Canete, Reuters reported.
So far, five of those people have been rescued, but on Sunday two men remained missing. “Thank God, we have located five female occupants and we are continuing to search for the two missing men, whom we hope to find alive,” Interior Minister Wilfredo Pedraza told reporters.
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“There is joy, but also still tension because we need to find the other two young people.”
The balloon's pilot is among the two missing, BBC News reported.
Members of the Peruvian navy, air force and police are currently searching in the sea for the two men. Globos Peru SAC manager Luis Miguel Fernandez had previously claimed that the basket attached to the balloon can float in water, AAP reported. It is not clear what caused the crash, but authorities suspect that a strong wind and a dense fog made the crash worse.
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