DEADLIEST HOT-AIR BALLOON ACCIDENTS

Some of the worst accidents involving hot air balloons:

Feb. 26, 2013: A hot air balloon flying over Luxor, Egypt, caught fire and plunged 1,000 feet to the ground, crashing into a sugar cane field and killing at least 19 foreign tourists.

Aug. 23, 2012: Six people died and 26 were injured when a hot air balloon carrying 32 peoplecaught fire and crashed near the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana.

Jan. 07, 2012: A hot air balloon struck power lines near Carterton, New Zealand, and exploded, crashing to the ground. Eleven people died.

Oct. 14, 2009: Four Dutch tourists were killed in Guangxi, China, after pilots lost control and their hot air balloon burst into flames and crashed.

Aug. 26, 2001: Six people including a child were killed when their hot air balloon touched a power line at Verrens-Arvey, in southwestern France.

June 17, 1999: Four passengers were killed when their hot air balloon hit a power line near Ibbenburen, Germany.

Jan. 31, 1996: Five people died in the Bernese Alps, Switzerland, when their hot air balloon crashed into a mountainside.

Aug. 8, 1993: Six people were killed when their balloon hit a power line near Aspen, Colo.

Dec. 11, 1990: Four people died near downtown Columbus, Ohio, after their hot air balloon hit a television tower and deflated.

Aug. 13, 1989: Thirteen people died when their balloon collided with another over the Australian outback.

Oct. 3, 1982: An explosion on board a hot air balloon carrying nine people at a festival in Albuquerque, N.M., killed four people and injured five.

Aug. 6, 1981: Five people were killed and one seriously injured when a hot air balloon caught fire after touching electrical wires and crashed in a suburb of Chicago.

1785: Two Frenchmen attempting to cross the English Channel in a hot-air balloon were killed when their balloon caught fire and crashed in possibly the first fatal aviation accident.

Source: Associated Press

Sources: AP reporting and news reports. Compiled by AP News Researcher Jennifer Farrar.