LJUBLJANA, Slovenia — A hot air balloon carrying 32 people, including children, was swept up in a storm and crashed in a fireball outside Slovenia’s capital on Thursday, killing four people and injuring 28 others, police and doctors said.
Milan Znidarsic from Ljubljana’s Medical Center said four charred bodies were found at the scene of the crash, some 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of the capital. Znidarsic did not say if any children were among those killed.
The cause of the accident was not immediately clear.
The official STA news agency said two hot air balloons were in the air at the time of the crash. The agency quoted eyewitnesses saying that one of the balloons caught fire while trying to land in a storm. The other balloon landed safely, the report said.
The head of the firefighting team, Tomaz Kucic, said that by the time firefighters got to the scene the balloon was already burning on the ground. Kucic did not specify whether the balloon caught fire while still in the air, or after it crashed.
Znidarsic said that 21 people were admitted in the Ljubljana hospital, while seven more were taken to other hospitals.
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(Reuters) - Four people were killed and 28 injured when a hot-air balloon carrying tourists, including children, caught fire and came down near the Slovenian capital Ljubljana on Thursday, the police said.
The balloon was still in flames when the firefighters arrived at the scene of the crash, firefighters' chief Tomaz Kucic told the official STA news agency.
Police confirmed four people had been killed and recovered their bodies, STA said.
Six children were among the injured, according to Slovenian news website 24ur. A short video on the website showed a police helicopter hovering above a cornfield at Ig, a suburb just outside Ljubljana, where the balloon hit the ground at 8 a.m. (0600GMT)
The area was cordoned off by police.
The balloon was carrying 30 passengers, including foreign and local tourists, a pilot and co-pilot when it caught fire, police told Reuters. All 32 people were accounted for, STA said.
It was not immediately clear what had caused the balloon to catch fire.
"We do not know what caused the accident and the investigation is ongoing," a Ljubljana police spokeswoman said.
STA said the balloon had requested permission to land about 15 minutes before it crashed.
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