16 people killed in US hot air balloon crash

An investigator has suggested there's evidence to support his claims.

　

US National Transportation Safety Board official Robert Sumwalt was speaking near the crash site.

"There's physical evidence to indicate the balloon or some component of the balloon hit the wires themselves,"

　

A power line runs prominently across the field.

　

It was one of the deadliest hot air balloon crashes in history.

　

Collisions with power lines are a leading cause of hot air balloon accidents.

　

The NTSB, taking the lead in investigating Saturday's crash, was asking the public for any cell phone videos of the incident.

　

Investigators were also hoping to retrieve evidence from 14 devices [phones, cameras and an iPad], recovered from the crash site.

　

Caldwell County (Texas) sheriff's office said identifying the victims will be "a long process," .

　

"Our goal is not to solve it this week.

　

"Our goal while being on scene is to collect the perishable evidence" and ultimately determine "why it happened so that we can keep it from happening again," he added.

　

CNN and local media identified the balloon's pilot as Alfred "Skip" Nichols, owner of Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides.

　

They said Nichols owned at least three balloons, one well-known in the area for sporting a huge yellow smiley face against a red, white and blue background.

　

A photo on Facebook showed him piloting a balloon with a large wicker basket holding more than a dozen passengers.

　

One of the companies employees Alan Lirette said he had helped load the passengers on Saturday, as confirming Nichols' death and saying there were no children aboard.

　

He said Nichols was a close friend and a "great pilot."

　

The Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are assisting in the inquiry.

　

NTSB experts will first examine "the operation of the balloon, the pilot, the company that operated the balloon.

The balloon burst into flames and plummeted to earth soon after dawn outside the town of Lockhart, some 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Austin.

Weather did not appear to be a problem as temperatures were moderate and wind was light.

　

The 16 deaths make the balloon accident the deadliest on record in the United States. Previously, the highest number of fatalities in a single US hot air balloon crash was six.

　

In 2013, a sunrise hot air balloon flight over Egypt's ancient temple city of Luxor caught fire and crashed, killing 19 tourists.

　

The pilot and one other tourist survived by jumping from the balloon.