Two die after hot-air balloon catches fire in Mexico near archaeological site
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Follow topic:
MEXICO CITY - Two people have died after a hot-air balloon flying near Mexico’s famed Teotihuacan archaeological site caught fire, the government said on Saturday.
“The passengers jumped from the balloon,” the government of the state of Mexico said in a statement, adding that a child had suffered burns.
It identified the dead victims as a 39-year-old woman and a 50-year-old man, without providing their names, and said the minor had suffered second-degree burns to the face as well as a fracture of the right femur.
It did not mention whether there were any other passengers on the balloon.
A video posted on social media shows the balloon’s gondola on fire in a perfectly clear sky.
Several tour operators offer balloon flights over Teotihuacan, some 70km north-east of Mexico City, for around US$150 (S$200).
With its Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon and its Avenue of the Dead, Teotihuacan, a surviving monument to the pre-Columbian period, is a popular tourist destination. AFP
