2 survivors in Egypt hot air balloon crash
2013-02-26 10:34
Cairo - A hot air balloon caught fire and exploded as it was
flying over Egypt's ancient temple city of Luxor on Tuesday, killing 19
tourists, a security official said.
An employee at the company operating the balloon told AFP
the tourists were from Korea, Japan and Britain, as well as one Egyptian.
"This is terrible, just terrible," the employee
told AFP by telephone in floods of tears, declining to give her name.
"We don't yet know what happened exactly or what went
wrong," she said.
Earlier a security official said that 19 people had died but
said they were from Hong Kong, Japan, France and Britain.
The balloon which was carrying 21 people was flying at 300m over Qurna, in Luxor's West Bank, when it caught fire
before exploding, the official said.
The two survivors, including the balloon's pilot, have been
taken to hospital, he said.
