They leapt for their lives. From a burning balloon basket, plummeting fast. Screams above the beaches of Praia Grande. The sky turned black. Eight people didn’t make it. But 13 survived. And their escape came down to seconds.
The fire didn’t start in the sky. It started right where the passengers stood. Inside the basket. That’s what the pilot told the police. The flames sparked as the balloon was still mid-air. He knew there wasn’t time. So he shouted: jump. Not everyone moved fast enough. The ones who did? They lived. The ones who didn’t? Trapped when the fire grew. “The balloon ended up falling,” said Praia Grande police chief Tiago Luiz Lemos.
What Actually Happened In The Hot Air Balloon?
The real horror came in the decision: jump now or stay inside. Some froze. Others didn’t wait. That split-second choice, according to Lt. Col. Zevir Cipriano Jr., determined who made it. The pilot had been bringing the balloon down already. But the flames were faster. No parachutes. No second chances. Twenty-one people were on board. Only 13 walked away.
BREAKING: Hot air balloon carrying 21 people crashes in southern Brazil pic.twitter.com/02fvbjSAoN
— BNO News (@BNONews) June 21, 2025
It wasn’t just the fire. The balloon had been unstable even before it rose. Police chief Ulisses Gabriel told Globo News that gusts were already pushing the balloon hard from side to side. So unstable, people had to hold it down during takeoff. He now believes a gas leak caused it. “Despite it being flame-retardant, there was an intense fire,” he said. Something flammable had escaped. Something caught. And once it did, the flame raced through.
Investigators are now looking at what else went wrong. Weather. Fuel. Human error. It was morning. The skies looked calm. But inside that basket, it turned deadly. A balloon ride meant for sightseeing became a nightmare in seconds. One flame. One wrong moment. Eight gone. Thirteen saved by instinct.
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