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AFP - Thirteen foreign tourists were injured on Saturday when their hot air balloon crashed in the Egyptian temple city of Luxor, medical and security officials said.
"Thirteen tourists were injured. Eight of them are French, two are English, one Canadian, one Korean and one Danish," a security official told AFP, adding that none of their injuries were life-threatening.
A French consular source said that a woman among the French casualties suffered a broken back.
An official at Luxor International Hospital said five of the injured would be transferred to Cairo for further treatment.
The tourists had been floating over the west bank of Luxor, one of Egypt's most renowned archaeological sites and home to the famous Valley of the Kings and the grand Temple of Hatshepsut.
It was not immediately clear what caused the accident although the security official said the balloon might have hit a mobile phone mast.
French consular sources said the gondola had become detached from the balloon, perhaps because it was overloaded. In all, there were 24 tourists on board.
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Comments (1)
Hot Air Balloon Accidents
Thirteen injured, one with a broken back ... yet another newspaper reports "no serious injuries."
Overcrowding. Now that sounds familiar. I was in a balloon accident in Luxor about a year ago (9 April 2008) - it, too, was overloaded with about 24 passengers against a 16 passenger maximum capacity. The balloon company did its best to keep the numbers from the investigators; taking injured passengers to a "private clinic" instead of Luxor hospital. The private clinic was a small and dingy office in the backstreets - though the practitioner seemed knowledgeable anough. I learned later that there were six with broken ankles like my own.. It was "just" a broken ankle but I also picked up a major infection in Luxor Hospital and I'm still suffering the consequences of the "minor" injury a year later. Since it was on my first day of vacation, I also lost the benefit of the vacation and had to be flown out with assistance. This needs to be stopped. Someone needs to take action.