1 injured after hot-air balloon collision in Illinois

Video of the incident shows the pilot hanging from the hot air balloon basket.

ByABC News
June 10, 2017, 11:24 AM

— -- At least one person was injured after high winds forced hot-air balloons to collide in Chatsworth, Illinois.

A bystander took a cellphone video of the dramatic incident on Thursday night at a Sesquicentennial Heritage Days event in the town, located some 90 miles southwest of Chicago. The footage shows several hot-air balloons on the ground preparing to launch when a gust of wind suddenly tossed one of them into the air.

The hot-air balloon is seen colliding into another balloon as the winds lift it into the air repeatedly before sending it crashing to the ground. The basket tips over, and the pilot falls out but clings onto the rope as the hot-air balloon lifts back into the air.

The gusty winds bring the balloon back down, causing the pilot to fall out onto the ground and leaving his two terrified passengers in control of the balloon.

One of the passengers, Bruce Sanders, grabbed the rope and tried to steer the balloon to the ground as the wind tossed it up into the air.

"The gust of wind took us off, and there was no control," Sanders told ABC News. "I was thinking I might be gone."

The balloon came crashing down for the final time, and the passengers were able to exit the basket safely. Neither of the passengers nor the pilot was seriously injured in the incident.

Sanders told ABC News he suffered non-life-threatening injuries from the hard landing.

"We brought it down OK, it just landed real hard," he told ABC News. "The balloon fell on top of me, and I rolled about probably 15 times on the ground."

"I hurt my back and my leg. My arm is sore. I am pretty banged up," he added.

Despite the terrifying incident, Sanders is considering riding in a hot-air balloon again.

"I would probably do it again," he told ABC News. "If there is no wind."