Two women hospitalised after hot air balloon crash near Cessnock in the Hunter
Updated
Two women are in hospital after a hot air balloon carrying 15 passengers crashed near Cessnock, north of Sydney, early this morning.
It is believed the balloon was attempting to land but struck a bush on the way down.
A 20-year-old woman sustained suspected back and spinal injuries while an 80-year-old woman suffered multiple fractures.
Four people suffered minor injuries.
Police said the hot air balloon went down just after 7:00am at Camp Road Greta, about 21 kilometres from the town of Cessnock.
Balloon picked up by the wind, operator says
The hot air balloon that crashed is operated by Balloon Safari.
Company director Matt Scaife said the balloon made a "fast landing" after it was picked up by the wind, and the basket clipped a bush.
Mr Scaife said the injured 80-year-old woman had a prosthetic leg and was on the side of the basket that hit the ground hardest.
Three other hot air balloons in the area at the time made "routine landings", he said.
Hot air ballooning has 'very good' safety record
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) will be seeking a detailed report from the balloon operator and had the power to cancel the operating certificate from the company.
"We'll be looking to what exactly happened, whether there were any regulatory or safety issues which need reviewing and possible future action," CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said.
A number of Australians were caught up in a hot air balloon accident in Egypt last week that killed a South African tourist and injured 12 other passengers.
Despite this recent international incident, Mr Gibson said hot air ballooning had a "very good" safety record in Australia.
"Many hundreds of thousands of Australians take hot air balloons each year and there are very few serious accidents," he said.
"The last fatal accident in Australia during flight was in 1989."
The Air Transport Safety Bureau will also conduct an investigation into the accident.
Topics: air-and-space, accidents, disasters-and-accidents, greta-2334, cessnock-2325, newcastle-2300
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