Yes, saw that this morning on the news..horrible..life is too short - as we well know. just makes me wonder if things are checked out properly as they did say there had been problems before.

A hot air balloon over Luxor was on my bucket list of things to do , I am not sure it will be now .

I also would have loved to do this but decided a while ago to give it a miss as this is not the first time this has happened there. I know of at least two more cases.

A tragic end to what should have been a once in a lifetime experience, their families must be going through hell..

l don't know how Egypt will recover from this as tourism is important to them and already in a fragile state through recent events.

Val.

Having been in a hot air balloon I know what a wonderful experience this could be. This is indeed a very sad accident and as always looks more shocking than a car accident. I read the balloon had hit a high pressure electrical cable and a cylinder on board exploded... other source says that the accident happened as crews tried to anchor the balloon to the ground using ropes hanging from the basket. The ropes became entangled in the tubes leading to the gas cylinder and severed them, after which the gas was ignited. Could the accident have been avoided or sometimes is just faith ? What do you think?

Hi yes what a wonderful experience to see the sights from a height must be wonderful however I hear there was another incident i think last year with casualties so off my list i am afraid but would love to go to Egypt
bfn M

Egypt is one of my favourite places. I have been 3 times and been entranced each time with all the amazing monuments, you would love it Michelle.
I don't mean Sharm el Sheik as I was forced to spend a week there once after a cruise and thats not 'my Egypt'.
J

Hi J I have heard that about SS not on my list at all - saw on TV last night that the accident that happened 18 months ago was the same company and they also had a ballon come down into the sea without any casualties! and they had apparently been inspected a few weeks before! M

Yes, the safety aspect about the balloon flights out there is very worrying. I used to want to go on one but have changed my mind!
J

Such a sad event....so sorry to hear that people lost their lives in a balloon flight.
It's such a pity when an accident happens and puts life into perspective like this. I have such wonderful memories of going up in a hot air balloon and I've done this in a few places. My best experience was in the UK, the guy really knew how to handle it and brought as so close that we could touch the top of a tree and then as it happens we saw this little country church and the bride and groom came out and we took pictures of them. They managed to track us down when we landed and we've given them some nice panoramic pictures of their wedding party. Such a happy day and we finished with champagne in the fields.
This is a bit of encouragement to look beyond this accident and maybe not listen to your first instinct, some experiences can be really magical.
Iolanda

Hi Yolanda thanks for your positive experience - yes I suppose we can easily just be too scared to do anything for the risk factor - that sounded like a perfect day - think we just need to choose the operator with care - wont be ballooning over Egypt ! M

It is a shame when accidents happen and cause people to stop having these experiences. Eventually this accident will be forgotten as are plane crashes and ships sinking and people book them again. Personally I don't know that I would ever have gone in a balloon but that is down to my fear of heights. My sympathies are with the families of those who died and all the people who suffered both on that balloon trip and those that witnessed the accident.