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A video of a hot air balloon bursting and falling to the ground in China has begun to circulate on social media.
Two videos of the crash, said to have happened in Sichuan on the first day of the lunar year, January 22, 2023, have been shared on Reddit and Twitter.
Reddit user MrJasonMason posted a video on Sunday, captioning the video: "Hot air balloon bursts after reaching 1km altitude, then crashes to the ground in Sichuan on the first day of the Lunar New Year. 2 dead and 4 injured.
The video shows a person on the ground standing by some banners filming the hot air balloon still rising into the sky.
Another clip then shows the moment the hot air balloon plummets to earth. It appears to land among some trees.
The video cuts to bystanders comforting and congregating around the people who were in the hot air balloon. A timestamp on this part of the video also says 2023/01/22.
Some of those in the area are also seen lifting the destroyed hot air balloon, which now has tree branches inside it.
A similar video of the incident was posted on Twitter the previous day by user JosephZheng777. He captioned the video: "The hot air balloon exploded and four passengers fell high. The incident occurred on January 22nd in Leshan, Sichuan, Zuihuagu Scenic Area.
The clip again shows the hot balloon rising and falling into a woodland area from a different vantage point.
A clip within the video also shows the scene of the crash site and people attempting to help those involved.
There has been no official confirmation of the accident. There has also not been any word whether the crash was an accident or intentional.
Newsweek has contacted China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.
According to the Hot Air Flight website, a company that helps procure experiences, become pilots or purchase balloons, deaths involving hot air balloons are rare.
On its statistics page it said:" During the 31-year period of 1964-1995, the crashes involved 1,533 people including passengers pilots and student pilots alike. A total of 92 fatalities were listed during that time.
"Six fatalities belong to the periods 1984-1988. During 2000-2011, only five people were killed in crashes. Four of these fatalities occurred between 2000-2004.
"Years 2014 to 2021 saw a spike in ballooning tragedies, killing 24 people."
The page also highlighted some of the key dangers of using hot air balloons.
The report continued: "Considering that hot air balloons do not have steering wheels and only use wind direction for speed, a lot of factors can be pointed out as causes of these misadventures.
"Wind direction can cause hot air balloons to go off course. In harsh weather conditions, hot air balloons do not stand a chance, so flying in the storm is a definite no.
"Fortunately, this hazard can be avoided by careful planning of flight schedules and weather mapping.
"Objects in higher grounds oftentimes cause major problems during hot air ballooning. Pointy objects like wind vanes, skyscrapers, and trees cause hazards.
"Additionally, power lines have become modern hazards in hot air balloon flights. They are by far the most dangerous obstacle and have caused 24 fatalities in the U.S. recently."
About the writer
Gerrard Kaonga is a Newsweek U.S. News Reporter and is based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on U.S. ... Read more