ALICE SPRINGS, Australia -- Several of the 13 balloonists who fell 3,300 feet to their deaths apparently jumped away from the plummeting basket in a vain attempt for 'a better chance' as others simply embraced, a rescuer said.
One former world champion balloonist called the Sunday sunrise accident the worst in ballooning history.
Witnesses said the balloon 'folded and fell to earth' from 3,300 feet about 9 miles south of the Alice Springs airport in the vast 'outback' of central Australia. The balloon's descent lasted 51 seconds, officials said.
'The balloon fell to the ground like a streamer,' witness Mike Crofts said.
All 13 people aboard the balloon died in the crash, and more than one appeared to have jumped away from the falling balloon, rescue worker Kezia Purich said.
'There were a few (bodies) away from the actual basket. Perhaps they may have jumped out of the basket thinking they had a better chance,' she said.
'But the people in the basket were all huddled together with arms around each other. Effectively, the balloon just dropped out of the sky.'
Eleven of the dead were from Australia, officials said. A Danish tourist identified by police as Priben Jacobsonen, 25, and an Italian tourist whose name was not disclosed also perished.
'We all prayed for their safety and began to land our balloon some distance away,' said Dr. Irene Fielder, a German tourist who watched the crash from another balloon. 'It completely collapsed before it hit the ground.'
The balloon was damaged in a collision with another balloon and fell despite the furious efforts of pilot Alan Fraser to keep it aloft.
'I could see one of the balloons rising quite fast under another balloon,' she said. 'The lower balloon came up and hit the other one. Its top was touching the basket and it was shaking the passengers around.
'A rip appeared at the top of the balloon and it started to move away,' she said. 'It wasn't a very rapid movement. It moved slowly but you knew it was in trouble.
'The pilot tried frantically to blast hot air into the stricken 'chute as the balloon lost height but there didn't appear to be any panic,' she said.
Toddy's Balloon Safaris, owner of the balloon, refused to comment on the accident.
The balloon was one of four taking part in a sunrise flight that began at Santa Teresa Road, 18 miles southeast of Alice Springs.
Roger Meadmore, the ballooning world champion in 1983, said the accident was the worst in ballooning history.
'In the 206 years of ballooning, none that was airworthy and properly maintained has crashed,' Meadmore said Monday, suggesting the collision must have been sudden and completely unexpected.
In a similar accident in the United States Aug. 5, pilot Robert Mock died when his balloon deflated at 3,000 ft. during the national championships at Baton Rouge, La.
Peter Vizard, Meadmore's partner in the 1983 world championships, said the Australian balloon must have sustained major damage to fall so quickly.
'It is not normal for a pilot to lose control of a balloon if it was damaged in flight,' Vizard said.
Alice Springs, in Australia's Northern Territory province, is the nearest large town to Ayers Rock, the world's largest monolith, which attracts thousands of tourists annually.
Officials from the Department of Civil Aviation flew to Alice Springs to investigate.
