A man has died after a hot air balloon 'fell to the ground', police have said.
West Mercia Police said on Sunday (25 June) they received a call that a hot air balloon had deflated and fallen onto the ground in a field near Holt Fleet Road in Ombersley, Worcestershire at 06:23 BST.
A hot air balloon festival was said to have been taking place seven miles away from the scene, in Worcester, on Friday and Saturday.
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Emergency services arrived at the scene to find that a man in his 20s was pronounced dead by paramedics.
Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB), who investigates civil aircraft accidents, has confirmed it's investigating the incident.
An AAIB spokesperson said: "We have a team on site and are beginning our investigation."
In a statement, West Mercia Police told LADbible: "At 6.20am this morning (June 25) police received a call a hot air balloon had deflated and fallen to the ground near the A449 at Ombersley.
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"The balloon fell to the ground in a field off Holt Fleet Road, near Ombersley Court.
"Emergency services attended and unfortunately a man was pronounced dead by paramedics.
"The Air Accident Investigation Branch will now carry out an investigation."
A spokesperson for Hereford and Worcester Fire Service added: "We went out to an incident involving a hot air balloon in Ombersley on the Holt Fleet Road.
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"We had a call at 6.23am, crews from Worcester, Droitwich, Wyre Forest, Evesham and Bromsgrove.
"We have left the scene now, but we have left it to the police."
According to the UK Civil Aviation Authority, there were 10 hot air balloon accidents in the UK during 2014-2018.
In 2021, five people were killed in a hot air balloon crash in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
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Police said the basket detached from the balloon and crashed early on 6 June, 2021, in turn cutting off power to more than 13,000 people in the area.
Two men - including the pilot - and two women died in the crash, while a fifth person was taken to hospital in critical condition but later passed away.
Witnesses on social media described seeing the hot air balloon falling from the sky without its basket after losing power, with one person tweeting a video of what they saw from their window.
"Power went out first," they wrote.
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"Looked out my window saw it falling with no basket. Horrible."
Featured Image Credit: 3QuarksMedia / PA Images / Alamy Stock PhotoTopics: UK News