Today Egyptians woke up today on a disaster in Luxor , a hot air balloon crashed today killing 19 passengers including 18 tourists and 1 Egyptian worker. The hot air balloon caught fire up in the sky and crashed in to a sugar cane field in Luxor. It exploded from 1,000ft (300 metres) up in the sky , it is completely horrifying. I am really sorry.
What is really horrifying that people in other balloons filmed and took photos for the whole tragedy.
Al Jazeera Mubshar Misr got a footage for the balloon and it was scary.
Photographer Christopher Michel was in another balloon and saw the tragedy , even tweeted it.
I do not know which balloon it was.
The photos on the wires are extremely sad especially when journalists spoke in the media about the smell of the burned flash. Here are photos taken by Haithem Tabei from AFP
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My deepest condolences to the families of those 18 tourists and the family of that worker.
It is a huge disaster by all measures. The photos from the site are incredibly sad when you think how scary it is to face death up in the sky and pieces were collected from debris.
Now for those who do not how the passengers were standing in the balloon or its size , here is photo by Christopher Michel for another balloon.
It is extremely terrifying and honestly I wish to see those who are responsible for this tragedy punished. Yes hot air balloons look beautiful and so on especially in Luxor but I fully agree the decision to suspend their activity until final notice.
Of course the people of Luxor are more than sad because they know that this is the end of a very poor touristic season. Already the city is suffering a lot and many of the people now who work in tourism are nearly jobless cursing whatever happening in Cairo. Today was like a disaster for them. By the way Luxor is suffering from a terrible fuel crisis.
A man told AFP reporter Haithem El Tabei to deliver a message to the people back in Cairo and to the government in particular :
It is like every month a disaster happens and people get killed. Personally I hate balloons.
What is really horrifying that people in other balloons filmed and took photos for the whole tragedy.
Al Jazeera Mubshar Misr got a footage for the balloon and it was scary.
Exclusive for Al Jazeera Mubshar Misr
Balloon crash in Luxor of the balloon behind mine.Heard the explosion and saw smoke.19 dead.#luxorMichel took some photos for the balloons including the unfortunate one today.
— christopher michel (@chrismichel) February 26, 2013
I do not know which balloon it was.
The photos on the wires are extremely sad especially when journalists spoke in the media about the smell of the burned flash. Here are photos taken by Haithem Tabei from AFP
It is a huge disaster by all measures. The photos from the site are incredibly sad when you think how scary it is to face death up in the sky and pieces were collected from debris.
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| From AFP |
Now for those who do not how the passengers were standing in the balloon or its size , here is photo by Christopher Michel for another balloon.
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| The balloon cabin by Chris Michel |
It is extremely terrifying and honestly I wish to see those who are responsible for this tragedy punished. Yes hot air balloons look beautiful and so on especially in Luxor but I fully agree the decision to suspend their activity until final notice.
Of course the people of Luxor are more than sad because they know that this is the end of a very poor touristic season. Already the city is suffering a lot and many of the people now who work in tourism are nearly jobless cursing whatever happening in Cairo. Today was like a disaster for them. By the way Luxor is suffering from a terrible fuel crisis.
A man told AFP reporter Haithem El Tabei to deliver a message to the people back in Cairo and to the government in particular :
We are sooooo tiredEgyptians are already saying that these are the last 18 tourists in our country !!
It is like every month a disaster happens and people get killed. Personally I hate balloons.
