Makes for harrowing reading,bloody terrible stuff.

http://www.theage.com.au/world...-20120107-1pozl.html

Thats terrible, I never felt the urge to go up in a hot air balloon and now I doubt I ever will.

That's terrible. If I ever go in one of those balloons I must remember to take parachute - or at least a stout umbrella.

Terrible tragedy. That region is famous for hot air balloons & you can see many kids of them during the summer festivals.

A prayer sent to all the family & dear ones.

Anyone want to take bets that the coroner's report recommends insulation of the gas bottles mounted on the exterior of the basket.

from the witness reports it sounds sad odds a gas bottle shorted between 2 phases of the HT wires & ruptured from the heat at the short.

FWIW
If you have LPG bottles .......check the code in the middle of the diamond.
most bottles 9Kg & smaller are code 4 bottles these days ........thinner higher temper steel (cheaper to make )........if you have any fire exposure Code 2 bottles are better insurance.
(thicker lower temper steel which loses less strength from being annealed by heat .......think bushfires).

I only have Code 2 9KG LPG bottles at my cabin for this reason.

When I heard about it I thought how the hell does a balloon catch fire. Never thought of the gas bottles.

Back in the early 70's I watched several of them catch fire early one morning while they were just getting started, all laying on the ground yet. This was in Albq. NM while I was trucking thru there. That's a favorite ballooning area.

I've always enjoyed flying and wanted to go up in one but, never thought I could handle the roar of the burners being that close. That's what spooks animal life on the ground they claim.

11 at once is nasty, but, it can sure happen when dealing with gas, fire and all that nylon materials.
George

Terrible.