Hot air balloon crash kills 5 in Albuquerque; victims identified

UPDATE, JUNE 27: ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — All five victims in Saturday’s deadly hot-air balloon wreck have now been identified, authorities in Albuquerque said on Sunday.

New Mexico State Police, in a Sunday morning statement, identified the deceased balloon pilot as Nicholas Meleski, 62, and said husband and wife passengers Susan Montoya, 65, and John Montoya, 61, were also killed in the crash.

The two other victims, former Albuquerque police officer Martin Martinez, 62, and his wife, Mary Martinez, 59, had been previously identified on Saturday by local officials.

All five balloon crash victims were from Albuquerque, which is a popular site for ballooning and hosts the International Balloon Festival each fall.

Investigators on Sunday indicated it still was not yet clear what led up to the crash.

The NMSP said an initial investigation found the balloon struck an overhead power line as it descended toward the ground. The basket then became engulfed in flames.

The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are following up to determine what caused the fatal incident.

ORIGINAL REPORT, JUNE 26: ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — Five people died after a hot air balloon hit power lines in Albuquerque on Saturday morning, according to police.

The multi-colored balloon skirted the top of the power lines extending from a pole, sending at least one dangling, before falling about 100 feet and crashing near a CVS pharmacy at Unser Boulevard and Central Avenue on the city's west side around 7:30 a.m. The envelope of the balloon floated away, eventually landing on a residential rooftop.

"The balloon hit the top wires -- the gondola of the balloon skirted along the top wire, caught on fire and crashed into the intersection," Albuquerque police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said.

As the balloon's basket became engulfed in flames, bystanders frantically called out for a fire extinguisher to put out the fire. "Unfortunately when police and fire officials arrived they found four deceased on site," Gallegos said.

A fifth person was critically injured and hospitalized, but later succumbed to his injuries, police said. 

Authorities indicated the deceased were between 40 and 60 years old, adding that the hot-air balloon pilot was among the dead. Of those killed, three were men and two were women.

Police identified two of the passengers as Martin Martinez, 62, and Mary Martinez, 59 — the parents of a prison transport officer with the Albuquerque Police Department.

Martin Martinez also had worked for Albuquerque police on bicycle patrol but more recently worked for the local school district, authorities said. Some Albuquerque officers who responded to the crash had worked with him and were sent home because it took a toll on them, said police Chief Harold Medina.

“It really emphasized the point that no matter how big we think we are, we're still a tightknit community and incidents like this affect us all,” Medina said.

The state Office of the Medical Investigator was working to identify the three other victims and notify their families, but police indicated they were all from central New Mexico.

"It's just a very tragic situation. Our officers who arrived first on scene had a tough time when they saw what they saw. These things are just horrible anytime they happen," Gallegos said.

Utility officials said that the balloon crash also triggered a power outage for over 13,000 customers, but electrical service had since been fully restored.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) were investigating to determine what caused the hot air balloon to crash. The FAA did not immediately have registration details for the balloon, but identified it as a Cameron 0-120.

Gallegos said hot air balloons can be difficult to manage, particularly when the wind kicks up.

“Our balloonists tend to be very much experts at navigating, but sometimes we have these types of tragic accidents,” he said.

Albuquerque is a mecca for hot air ballooning. The city hosts a nine-day event in October that draws hundreds of thousands of spectators and pilots from around the world in what is one of the most photographed events globally. Residents are also treated to colorful displays of balloons floating over homes and along the Rio Grande throughout the year.

"This is a terrible tragedy for our city and the ballooning community worldwide," Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller tweeted in reaction to Saturday's deadly crash. New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham tweeted similar sentiments: "I'm incredibly saddened to hear of this terrible tragedy in Albuquerque,"

While hot air balloon accidents aren't common, they do happen.

A passenger in a hot air balloon outside Albuquerque was injured when he was ejected from the gondola after a hard landing in January, according to the NTSB. He later died from his injuries.

In 2016 in neighboring Texas, a hot air balloon hit high-tension power lines before crashing into a pasture in the central part of the state. All 16 people on board died. Federal authorities said at the time it was the worst such disaster in U.S. history.