2 Injured in Japan Balloon Fire
TOKYO (AP) -- A hot-air ballooon burst into flames and crashed in a rice paddy on the final day Monday of Asia's largest balloon festival, leaving its British pilot and an event official with minor burns.
British pilot Richard Parry and the Japanese official managed to jump out of the burning gondola when the balloon crashed in a failed landing. The balloon then rose up again, was engulfed in flames and crashed on a rice paddy near a small river.
Parry was competing at the Saga International Balloon Fiesta in an event in which balloons are landed as close as possible to a designated marker, Fiesta spokesman Osamu Ono said.
The 53-year old Fiesta regular and the event official, Masayuki Yamashita, were taken to the hospital with minor burns and bruises, Ono said.
It is not uncommon for balloons to catch fire, but this is the first time since the annual Saga Fiesta was first held in 1984 that an entire balloon has been destroyed in flames, Ono said.
Saga is 580 miles southwest of Tokyo on the island of Kyushu.
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