Death toll hits 19 in Egypt balloon crash

2013-02-26 41

At least 19 people, most of them Asian and European tourists, died Tuesday when a hot air balloon crashed near the ancient Egyptian town of Luxor.

After a mid-air gas explosion the balloon came down in farmland near the Valley of the Kings.

The pilot survived by jumping from the basket when it was just above the ground.

Rescue workers now sift through wreckage and the remains of the dead.

British tourist Michael Rennie survived the crash and is being treated in Cairo.

James Watt, the British Ambassador to Egypt was on hand at the hospital.

One Egyptian along with tourists from Japan, China, France, Britain and Hungary were killed in the accident.