At least eight people have died after a hot air balloon caught fire while carrying more than 20 people. The balloon fell from the sky above the southern Brazilian region of Praia Grande in the southern state of Santa Catarina. Video of the incident posted online shows operators struggling to inflate the balloon in windy conditions before the fire broke out just minutes after takeoff. People can be seen jumping from the basket before the entire thing collapses and hurtles to the ground. “It was a desperate scene,” one witness told a local newspaper. Praia Grande is a mountainous region, popular with tourists for its similarities to Cappadocia in Turkey, and with a comparable enthusiasm for hot air ballooning. State Governor Jorginho Mello has described the event as a “tragedy,” and said investigations into the cause of the incident are underway. This is the second hot air balloon tragedy in little more than a week in Brazil, after an illegal tourism operation crashed in Boituva, southeast of São Paulo, killing a pregnant 27-year-old woman.
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