Man dies after hot air balloon crashes to the ground

Witnesses report seeing a ‘fireball’ coming from the balloon before it plummeted

A hot air balloon crew prepare their balloon during the Isle of Wight Balloon Festival at Robin Hill Country Park, Isle of Wight in May (PA)

A man in his 20s has died in a hot air balloon crash in England.

Police confirmed a man died after the incident in Worcestershire on Sunday morning.

A spokesperson for West Mercia Police said: “At 6.20am this morning police received a call a hot air balloon had deflated and fallen to the ground near the A449 at Ombersley.

A man has died after a hot air balloon accident in Worcestershire (file image, AP) (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

“The balloon fell to the ground in a field off Holt Fleet Road, near Ombersley Court.

“Emergency services attended and unfortunately a man was pronounced dead by paramedics. The Air Accident Investigation Branch will now carry out an investigation.”

It is believed the hot air balloon burst into flames mid-air.

Witnesses reported seeing a “fireball” coming from the balloon as it plummeted to the ground before hearing screaming.

“Suddenly there was a flash and what looked like a fireball coming from a blue balloon and it just dropped like a stone,” one bystander told The Mirror.

“My wife heard terrible screaming and then silence. We called the emergency services but had difficulty getting through on the 999 number because it was down.”

The incident took place after visitors attend the first ever Worcester Balloon Festival at the area’s racecourse.

However, a representative of the festival said the flight where the accident took place was not part of proceedings.

“There was an incident this morning, under investigation, it wasn’t the festival it was independent,” a spokesperson said.

“The festival finished last night, it was not connected to the festival.”

The festival was initially slated to take place last month but was pushed to this weekend due to bad weather.