The authorities of Central Texas said that a hot-air balloon caught on fire in central Texas carrying at least 16 people and confirmed that no-one survived in this incident. The authorities indicated that a hot air balloon caught fire and crashed into a meadowland in the morning near Lockhart, Texas. The incident happened 30 miles away south of the Austin city. Initial reports indicated that the fire broke out after mid-flight in the basket of balloon. The authorities also confirmed that all the 16 passengers were killed in this unfortunate incident. The balloon travelled halfway and at least after one hour it crashed near electric power lines.
The authorities & police are investigating about the reasons and it is possible that balloon touched electric power line before catching fire. Mostly surrounded area of balloon crash is farmland and there is a possibility that balloon accidently touched high-capacity transmission lines or the balloon was travelling very close to these high-transmission lines which caused the fire in the basket of balloon. The investigation teams are picking the number and identities of victims of balloon crash. The Federal Aviation Administration indicated that the in charge of this balloon crash investigation is National Transport Safety Board. It is important that NTSB and FAA are not authorized to release the names of pilots and passengers. The local officials will release their names after the completion of investigation.