The Daily Populous Saturday June 21st, 2025 evening edition
Authored by news.sky.com and submitted by bendubberley_

At least eight people have died after a hot air balloon crashed in Brazil, say officials.

The tourism balloon caught fire and fell from the sky in the city of Praia Grande, in the southern state of Santa Catarina.

Footage shared by local news outlet G1 showed smoke coming from the balloon as it hurtled to the ground in the early hours of Saturday.

Thirteen people survived the crash and were taken to nearby hospitals, according to Santa Catarina's military fire brigade.

Some 21 people were on board the flight, including the pilot, it added.

The state governor Jorginho Mello said in a video on X: "We are in mourning. A tragedy has happened. We will see how it unfolds, what happened, why it happened.

"But the important thing now is for the state structure to do what it can."

Mr Mello said he has asked authorities to travel to the municipality "to do as much as possible to rescue, to help, to take to hospital, to comfort the families".

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Praia Grande is a frequent destination for hot air ballooning.

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It is a popular activity in some parts of Brazil's south during June festivities that celebrate Catholic saints such as Saint John.

A balloon came down in Sao Paulo state last Sunday, killing a 27-year-old woman and injuring 11 other people, according to news outlet G1.

fulltrendypro on June 21st, 2025 at 14:09 UTC »

Twenty-two people in a balloon. Eight dead. Two pulled out alive. The rest are still missing in the wreckage, and rescue teams haven’t stopped digging.

JTP709 on June 21st, 2025 at 13:48 UTC »

Eight confirmed dead, 2 survivors, 12 still missing :( 22 sounds like a lot, what kind of hot air balloon was it?

ObjectiveGlittering on June 21st, 2025 at 13:48 UTC »

Being trapped in a basket plunging towards the ground is an absolute nightmare. The two survivors will need so much therapy to move past this. Such a horrible experience and I hope an investigation can spot what went wrong so these two can reach some kind of settlement.