Among the 21 people confirmed in a balloon that fell on Saturday, 21, in the city of Praia Grande, in the southern state of Santa Catarina, three of them failed to jump out of the balloon and died embraced, said the chief delegate of the Santa Catarina Civil Police, Ulisses Gabriel, in an interview with CBN radio.
When the balloon began to catch fire and came closer to the floor, the pilot guided the passengers to make. All 13 survivors jumped, but not all who jumped survived.
Among the eight dead were the three passengers who were found charred and embraced inside the balloon.
“Three people did not jump (from the balloon) and ended up dying embraced, it is a very sad scene,” said the delegate.
The surviving victims were sent to the hospital.
Gabriel also said that there was a lot of wind in the morning in the city what may have collaborated for the instability of the balloon and the fire. The cause of the fire has not yet been confirmed.
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“We will check if it was the company’s responsibility or not, if there was any technical failure in the balloon,” added Gabriel.
The delegate said, however, that balloon flights are safe, provided there are adequate conditions, and that there is no history of accidents like this in the region. It is not yet possible to say whether the conditions were inadequate for the flight on Saturday morning.
The company responsible was to fly over, which said to comply with the rules of the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) to fly and said it had no record of other accidents. The company also reported that it suspended its operations indefinitely.
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The National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) says it verifies the situation of the aircraft and crew.
