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Five men die in fiery balloon crash -- one who jumped seriously injured

BARRINGTON HILLS, Ill. -- The balloon pilot was one of the most experienced in the Midwest. Skies were clear. Two of the passengers were championship parachutists.

It was a sublime setting for an airborne birthday party. It became what may be the worst balloon tragedy in U.S. history.

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The brightly colored hot air balloon was thrown into power lines Saturday, moments after pilot James Bicket, 26, Bloomington, Ill., realized a storm was approaching.

Five of the six men aboard were killed in the fiery crash in northwest suburban Barrington Hills.

The only survivor, Rocco Evans, 29, Deland, Fla., jumped out of the gondola when Bicket turned on the craft's propane burner to gain altitude, pushing the balloon into 34,000-volt power lines.

'That's when I got the hell out of there,' Evans told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Evans, who fell 40 feet and landed on a grassy highway median, was in serious condition Sunday with burns over 25 percent of his body.

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'They all should have jumped when I did, as soon as we hit the wires and I saw we were on fire,' he said.

The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration were investigating the cause of the crash.

Bicket, who had leased the balloon and flew it professionally, had invited two friends, Evans and Kenneth Coleman, 35, Kissimee, Fla., for a ride. The three other men aboard -- Brian Baker, 38, McHenry, Ill.; Terry Ritter, 38, Cary, Ill.; and William Keating, Forest, Park, Ill. - were paying passengers.

For Keating, it was a belated present to celebrate his 24th birthday last month.

Evans said he, Coleman and Bicket had talked about a line of dark clouds on the horizon before they took off, but the weather appeared good in the immediate area. Witnesses said the storm clouds moved quickly into the previously clear sky.

Ten minutes after the launch, Bicket planned to end the ride, trying to land away from the power lines when the craft was socked by a gust of wind about 25 mph -- right into the power lines.

The cage then caught fire, sending the balloon suddenly soaring.

Once the flames consumed the balloon covering, allowing the hot air to escape, the craft crashed toward the ground.

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After Evans jumped, a second passenger leaped into a small pasture and a third crashed through the roof of an unoccupied home.

The balloon, then in flames and with three men still aboard, exploded as it plummeted to the front lawn of a home.

There were no injuries on the ground.

Evans and Coleman, parachutists who were members of national and world championship teams, were not wearing parachutes on the flight. But Evans said parachutes would not have saved them.

'It wouldn't have mattered. We were too low.'

Evans said he thought Bicket was wrong to try to land upwind of the power lines. Investigators said Sunday they were not sure if weather was a factor in the crash.

Al Blount, president of the Balloon Federation of America, based in Iowa, said the accidents was 'the worst in recent history' and the first ballooning fatalities this year.

Bicket was considered one of the most skilled balloon pilots in the Midwest.

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