Egypt Balloon Crash: At Least 18 Tourists Killed

in egypt. Quite a few people dead. Right along the nile. This breaking overnight. 18 foreign tourists killed when a hot air balloon exploded and plummeted to the ground during an egypt tourist mecca... See More

in egypt. Quite a few people dead. Right along the nile. This breaking overnight. 18 foreign tourists killed when a hot air balloon exploded and plummeted to the ground during an egypt tourist mecca of luxor, along the banks of the nile. Witnesses are describing the terrifying moments as people tried to jump for their lives. Egyptian officials said at least 20 tourists were flying over luxor, when the balloon caught fire and plunge to the ground. Christopher michelle is an american photographer. He was in another hot air balloon, close to the one that crashed. This is a popular tourist thing to do in luxor, which is to float over the ancient tramp temples. They do it every day. As we were coming in to land, i heard a loud explosion. Saw smoke. We were close to the ground. As you probably know, in the luxor, they burn the sugar cane. I assumed it was coming from the ground, not obviously one ofhe balloons. Reporter: Michelle said he couldn't see the other balloon until after his had landed safely. Emergency vehicles started arrive. And we started to understand the extent of the tragedy. Reporter: Another woman described the scene to the bbc. It exploded in the air. And people were jumping out of the balloon. So, I believe they died out of jumping, not of the explosion. Reporter: Egyptian security reports three are being treated for their injures. And that the tourists included citizens of france, britain, belgium, hungary, japan and hong kong.