What should be one of the most wonderful moments of a trip through Egypt turned into a tragedy. A hot air balloon crash killed 18 tourists from a variety of countries throughout Europe and Asia. During the tour, when the balloon was about 1000 feet off the ground, a fire broke out. It spread to the gas canisters that power the balloon, and when that happened, there was an explosion that took the balloon from a pleasure flight to a terror trip.
The balloon crash-landed in a sugar cane field outside of al-Dhabaa, a village near Luxor. Hot air balloon rides over Luxor’s many monuments are very popular in Egypt; indeed, the place where the balloon crash-landed has been the scene of tragedy before. In 2008, 7 tourists were hurt when their balloon crashed; in 2009, 16 people were injured when their balloon hit a cell phone tower and crashed. In this case, there were a total of 21 people on board. There were only three survivors, two tourists and one Egyptian who is more than likely the balloon pilot.
Just in case you needed another excuse not to visit Egypt, there you go. Tourism is down 75 percent in Luxor thanks to the political unrest in the region.
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