Hot air balloon crashes in Egypt
January 5, 2018
One person was killed and 12 other people were injured when a hot air balloon carrying about 20 people crashed near Egypt's ancient city of Luxor on Friday, a health ministry official said.
Read more: Foreign tourists killed in hot air balloon explosion in Egypt
Sharif Wadie, the assistant health minister in charge of emergency services, told the news agency AFP there were no other casualties, but did not elaborate on the extent of the passengers' injuries.
A history of accidents
In 2016, Egypt temporarily halted balloon flights after 22 Chinese tourists suffered minor injuries in a crash landing of their hot air balloon.
Since then, balloon rides have been monitored by cameras and banned from flying above 2,000 meters.
In 2013, a hot air balloon caught fire in mid-flight over Luxor, killing 19 tourists. The accident was later blamed on a gas leak.
It came four years after 13 foreign tourists were injured when their hot air balloon struck a communications mast in Luxor and crashed.
law/rt (AFP, AP)