WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A hot air balloon burst into flames and crashed in New Zealand early on Saturday, killing all 11 people on board in the country's worst air accident in more than three decades.
Police said the balloon appeared to have caught fire before crashing into farmland near Carterton, about 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Wellington on New Zealand's North Island.
"Sadly the pilot and 10 passengers onboard have not survived," Wellington District Commander Superintendent Mike Rusbatch said.
The accident occurred in calm, clear and warm weather in a region well known for hot air ballooning.
"I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There were flames licking up the side of the basket, right up the guy-ropes," David McKinlay, who was walking his dog when he saw the balloon catch fire, told state-run Television New Zealand.
When the flames reached the canopy, the balloon plunged to the ground, he said.
"There was a big, long pencil-like flame maybe 20 metres (65 feet) long, heading towards the ground at a terrible speed," McKinlay added.
The accident is the New Zealand's worst air disaster since a Antarctic sight-seeing flight crashed into Mt Erebus in 1979, killing all 257 people on board.
(Reporting by Mantik Kusjanto and Lincoln Feast; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
