A hot-air balloon burst into flames, killing all six passengers after apparently hitting a high-voltage wire in the French Alps. Witnesses saw the balloon catch fire as it neared the 20,000-volt line, a fireman said. The heat generated when the balloon was regaining altitude caused its gas canisters to explode, he added.
"I saw it in flames, people were shouting, and then it rose very quickly," a witness, Mr Daniel Burgat, told a TV station, LCI.
"Suddenly I saw someone fall, then a second person fall, from at least 100 or 150 metres up." The wife of the pilot, Mr Roger Fugier (64) was following the flight in a car and saw the balloon strike the line, firemen said.
Mr Gilbert Lafaylle, Deputy Public Prosecutor of the nearby city of Albertville, said an investigation had been opened to determine the exact circumstances of the accident.
Four of the victims jumped from the balloon's basket before it crashed in a field in the department of Savoie, between the towns of Clery and Verrens-Arvey, rescuers said. Television footage showed the multicoloured balloon with part of one side eaten away, headed towards the ground.
Mr Fugier, the balloon's owner, was a well-known figure in the local aeronautical community. The passengers - on their first flight - included a couple from Albertville, their 21-year-old daughter, a man from the town of Ugine and his mother.