Survivor of Balloon Fire Is Haunted by Memory
Survivor of fiery balloon crash recounts her terrifying experience.
Aug. 27, 2007 — -- Diana Rutledge survived a deadly hot-air balloon accident in Canada Friday, but she is still haunted by memories of jumping from the flaming basket.
"All of a sudden my friend who was with me was screaming, 'Diana, we're on fire, we're on fire!'" Rutledge, 56, told "Good Morning America" from a hospital bed. "It was like my hair was on fire, and in fact, we were on fire."
With 12 passengers and a pilot onboard, the hot air balloon was getting ready to launch at sunset when the basket caught fire near the U.S. border in Surrey, British Columbia, a suburb of Vancouver.
"The pilot ordered everyone out immediately," said John Kageorge of Fantasy Balloon Charters, the company running the balloon flight. "As weight came off the balloon, and the heat of the fire increased, the balloon began to lift off the ground."
Rutledge and others were still in the basket as it began to rise. She said when they were about 50 feet above ground, she made the life-or-death decision to jump.
"I thought, 'Come on Diana, this is do or die. Jump or you are going to die. You are going to go on fire and you are gonna die.' So I jumped, I climbed up on top of the basket and I jumped," she said.
A woman on vacation from Germany was next to her in the basket, and Rutledge helped save her from the flames.
"And as I was jumping, I put my arms under the armpits of the little lady, who is 69 years old, I put my arms under her armpit, pulled her out of the basket and took her down to the ground with me," Rutledge said.
Rutledge said she fell "like a cat" and landed on her feet. Her heels were smashed and every bone in her feet broken.
After flames engulfed the balloon in midair, it came crashing down on an RV park, leaving a tail of thick black smoke in its wake.
"So I laid there and I couldn't stand up, I was too close to the debris. And I was looking in the sky and this balloon was on fire, debris was falling all over. And I was screaming at people, 'Help me, help. I can't walk,'" Rutledge said.
