Four dead, 18 hurt in Slovenia hot air balloon crash

LJUBLJANA (AFP) - Four people were killed on Thursday and over 18 injured, six of them seriously, when a hot air balloon crashed and caught fire in Slovenia, the country's civil protection administration said.

Among the injured were a British woman and three Italians, the Ljubljana Clinical Centre where many of the injured were brought, also said.

Police confirmed that "a few foreigners" were among the passengers and said an investigation was underway. The incident occurred at around 8am local time (2pm Singapore time) some 12km south of the capital Ljubljana, a spokesman for the country's civil protection administration disaster relief administration said.

He added the balloon was carrying 30 passengers along with the pilot and co-pilot, but could not give any details on the victims.