VERRENS-ARVEY, France (AP) -- A hot-air balloon exploded in flight after hitting a power line near a French Alpine village, killing all six passengers as the pilot's wife watched from the ground.
All were residents of the area out for a Sunday morning pleasure ride with the pilot, an experienced balloonist, said Gilbert Lafaille, a prosecutor for the eastern French town of Albertville.
The balloon took off from Albertville, site of the 1992 Winter Olympics, colliding with a 20,000-volt power line as it began its descent above the village of Verrens-Arvey, said Laurent Moiron, a fire captain for a regional emergency squad.
Investigators were trying to determine if contact with the power line caused the fire. Moiron said some witnesses reported seeing flames shooting from the balloon before it hit the power line about 30 feet off the ground.
``In either case, the basket of the hot-air balloon caught fire, causing the balloon to resume its climb,'' Moiron said.
Two passengers died after jumping to escape the flames, Lafaille said.
As the balloon continued its ascent, propelled by the heat from the flames, gas tanks inside the balloon ignited and caused an explosion.
``I saw flames, black smoke, then I heard a big explosion,'' a farmer who saw the accident was quoted as saying by RTL radio.
The force of the explosions propelled two other passengers out of the balloon. Their bodies were found just over a mile from the power line, Lafaille said.
The balloon crashed in a grassy field behind a church in the town of Clery, about three miles from Albertville. The pilot, Roger Fugier, and one passenger were still on board. Both had died of severe burns.
Fugier, 64, who frequently took tourists and residents on balloon rides, was an accomplished pilot who had crossed the Straits of Gibraltar and the Pyrenees in hot-air balloons, Lafaille said.
Fugier's wife, who watched the balloon catch fire from the ground, placed the initial call to emergency services from her mobile phone. She was in a state of shock and taken to a trauma center at the Albertville hospital.
Police had initially said a young child was among the victims but later determined that the youngest on board was a woman in her 20s.
