A man participating in a Mexican city’s inaugural balloon festival died after falling from a runaway balloon that caught on fire.
The Attorney General’s Office of the State of Zacatecas confirmed prosecutors had opened an investigation into crimes of culprit homicide, injury and neglect of people following an incident last weekend resulting in one man being killed and two others injured.
Mexico’s Riviera Maya News agency said a 40-year-old man died in the city of Zacatecas’ First Balloon Festival on Sunday morning when a hot air balloon preparing to carry three passengers broke free of its tether and began to rise. A flame reportedly rushed through the basket carrying the trio.
Two men were reportedly able to escape before the balloon launched. A third person who helped those two get to safety became entangled in a rope that carried him upward with the airship.
Video shows that man dangling from a rope as the balloon continues to rise. The victim eventually fell to the ground, where paramedics were unable to save him.
The state of Zacatecas is located in central Mexico, slightly southeast of Durango. It’s capital city bears the same name.
