The people of Vilkai Kampos village often see light airplanes and paragliders flying over their houses, but a hot air balloon has not yet appeared in their sky. Even less likely was the accident of such a flying object.
On Sunday evening, the hot air balloon flew quite low over the village. It is not yet clear why the pilot lost control of the balloon. It is officially stated that this was caused by a sudden gust of wind, because at a similar time the weather in Western Lithuania began to change suddenly, a cold air front moved in, and a strong wind suddenly arose.
The accident happened in the most densely populated part of the village.
According to the villagers, around 8:30 p.m. the bag of the balloon crashed into the roof of an outbuilding, severely damaging it, then broke a fir tree and a couple of apple trees.
Residents of Vilkai Kampos heard a loud crash, and some saw people fall from the bag of the balloon flying underground. According to testimony, everyone in the balloon fell out, except for a teenage boy. His father was very worried about the child’s health, so he did not think about his pains, but he could have been injured as well.
“One fell out first, after a few tens of meters – the other. So maybe the balloon was still flying for a kilometer, and the passengers kept falling. Villagers ran to watch, those who fell needed help. It was an incredible sight and the event itself is hard to comprehend. Many ambulances rushed to the village, the whole village was lit up by their flashing lights,” said Mindaugas, a resident of Vilkai kampus.
Ambulances rushed from Šilutė, Priekulė, Šilalė, Gargžda and Klaipėda. Almost all the victims are being treated in Klaipėda hospitals, perhaps only one of them is in Šilutė hospital. People seem to have been hurt the most when the balloon bag crashed into the building.
According to the press representatives of the Chief Police Commissariat of Tauragė County, the pilot who flew the passengers lives in Vilnius, she was flying in a balloon during the accident and the residents of Tauragė, Pagėgiai and Vilnius suffered various injuries.
Both the police and aeronautics specialists are investigating the circumstances of the incident.
According to initial data, the hot air balloon was a recreational flight.
