Pilot is arrested after hot air balloon burst into flames killing husband and wife in Mexico – as their 13-year-old daughter remains hospitalized after surviving 131 foot jump
- Hot air balloon pilot Víctor Guzmán was arrested in Hidalgo, Mexico, on Saturday
- Guzmán was operating the balloon that caught fire over a pre-hispanic pyramid site in State of Mexico on Saturday morning
- The incident killed José Nolasco and his wife, Viridiana Becerril, and injured their 13-year-old daughter, Regina Itzani
A pilot has been arrested after a hot air balloon burst into flames killing a husband and wife in Mexico, and leaving their teenage daughter seriously injured.
Victor Guzmán was detained after leaping from the burning balloon and running from the scene. He was taken in after being discharged from hospital with burns covering 90 percent of his body.
José Nolasco, 50, and his wife, Viridiana Becerril, 39, were killed when the aircraft plunged to the ground in the fiery crash over a pre-Hispanic pyramid site in Teotihuacán, State of Mexico, on Saturday.
Their 13-year-old daughter, Regina Itzani, survived after leaping from the stricken aircraft before it hit the ground but she remains hospitalized with a broken arm and second-degree burns.
Guzmán told agents assigned to the State of Mexico Attorney General’s Office that he had abandoned the balloon- rented by the family for a surprise birthday trip -because he didn’t know how to respond to the emergency.
Pilot Víctor Guzmán was taken into custody at a central Mexico hospital Sunday hours after he fled the hot air balloon that caught fire and crashed, killing a couple and injuring their 13-year-old daughter
Jose Nolasco and his wife, Viridiana Becerril, with their daughter, Regina Itzani. Itzani told her maternal grandmother that her parents hugged her moments before she jumped
Víctor Guzmán told the police he was frightened because he didn’t know how to deal with the incident and abandoned the hot air balloon
Mexico’s Federal Aviation Agency is looking into Saturday morning’s hot air balloon fire that killed a couple and left their daughter with injuries
The frightening video footage shows occupants appearing to either fall or jump from the craft, all to onlookers’ dismay.
Witnesses said Guzmán jumped off the balloon as it hovered in flames about 16 feet above ground, leaving the family behind.
He crashed to the ground and took off running. The impact of the accident left the ballon shredded in pieces and its carriage completely burnt.
Forensic experts work in the area where a hot air balloon caught fire and collapsed Saturday, killing a couple and injuring their daughter
Forensic experts and members of the National Guard work in the area where a hot air balloon caught fire and collapsed Teotihuacán, State of Mexico
The hot air balloon ride had been set up as a surprise for Becerril, her mother Reyna Sarmiento, told Milenio.
It departed around 8 am and at one point encountered an issue with its gas system, causing the cabin to take on fire.
Itzani told her grandmother that her parents hugged her as the balloon took on fire. She is said to have jumped out of the balloon while it floated about 131 feet in the air and miraculously survived.
‘The girl tells us that the gas tank there, the hydrostatic gas tank, started to light up and that was what started to burn,’ Sarmiento. ‘She says her parents hugged her, but she turned away from them and she jumped.’
National Guard and Experts investigate the crash area, where a hot air balloon caught fire in mid-flight over Teotihuacán archaeological zone on Saturday
The Federal Aviation Agency is leading the investigation and looking into whether the company, Autocinema Retroviso, is licensed to operate to the hot air balloon service and if it had proper insurance to cover accidents.
The company is owned by Zaid Sánchez, whose uncle, Mario Vidal, is commissioner of the Teotihuacán public security department.
The Teotihuacán Hot Air Balloon Federation said in a statement that of the eight companies that offer such service, Autocinema Retroviso, was not one of them.
‘It is imperative that these same authorities act effectively in order to cancel the operations of companies that, unfortunately, operate outside the legal framework and sometimes in hiding, affecting the safety of the operations of all of us who operate in the immediate vicinity of the archaeological site of Teotihuacán,’ the federation said.
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