(Updated) Up to 16 feared dead in Texas hot air balloon crash

A woman who lives near the site where a hot air balloon crashed in Central Texas says she saw a giant fireball.

Just minutes before the crash, a husband and wife traveling on the Texas 130 toll road spotted the balloon, which was piloted by Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides owner Alfred “Skip” Nichols.

Bruce Lavorgna, spokesman for the Central Texas Ballooning Association who has been flying balloons for 26 years, said power lines are the most common cause of balloon crashes.

Wylie said that she called 911.

Matt and Sunday Rowan were on board when the balloon caught fire and crashed in a pasture around 7:40 a.m. Saturday morning in Maxwell, which is about 30 miles southeast of Austin, according to friends of the couple.

The partial frame of a hot air balloon is visible above a crop field as investigators comb the wreckage of the crash.

“The potential for a high number of fatalities in a single air tour balloon accident is of particular concern if air tour balloon operators continue to conduct operations under less stringent regulations and oversight”, then-NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman wrote.

“When the Emergency Responders and the Sheriff’s Office arrived on the scene, it was apparent that the reported fire was the basket portion of a hot air balloon”, the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement posted to Twitter.

The balloon, operated by a company called Heart of Texas, apparently caught on fire in flight.

Robert Sumwalt, who will head the NTSB’s crash investigation team, said he was studying the board’s recommendations to the FAA based on previous hot air balloon crashes.

The highest number of fatalities in a single hot air balloon crash in the US before this incident was six, according to the NTSB.

Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement: ‘Investigators are determining the number and the identities of victims at this time’.

In that crash the balloon was sailing over archaeological sites at dawn when a fire caused an explosion in a gas canister and the balloon plummeted more than 1,000 feet to the ground.

Cutting through that farmland is a row of massive high-capacity transmission lines about 4 to 5 storeys tall.

Authorities are investigating the crash, and have not yet provided further details.

– A National Transportation Safety Board spokesman held a brief news conference near the scene Saturday afternoon, saying the accident involved a “significant loss of life”, although he would not give an exact number.

Texas governor Greg Abbott offered his condolences to those killed in the crash. “As always, Texans are strong in the face of adversity, and we all stand together in support of the families and entire Lockhart community as they respond to and begin to heal from this bad incident”. Bradley said he’s flown balloons with up to 28 people, and he flies throughout the summer in New Mexico.

Lockhart is about 30 miles south of Austin.