Hot air balloon crew die in fireball - Telegraph.co.uk

"We have many hot air balloons going overheard and I've never heard one like that before.

"I went out to my back garden and saw it on fire high in the sky. The whole thing was just plummeting to the ground, really quickly.

"It was sadly obvious that anyone inside it was not going to get out alive."

Mrs Andrews added: "It was all on fire and looked like a huge inferno. The basket was on fire and the gas was on the side.

"It exploded when it hit the ground. It was horrific. My house is only a few hundred yards from where it landed and I thought it was going to hit it.

"It was absolutely terrifying. When it hit the ground there was a terrible whooshing noise. It is just so sad."

Two off-duty fire fighters, who were on a bike ride nearby, raced to help – but could not get near to the basket because of the intense heat and flames from its four exploding gas cylinders. A further 19 firefighters battled the flames when they arrived at the scene after being called at 9.49am yesterday.

Mr Pibworth's father Frederick, 71, said his son and his co-pilot had originally planned to take the balloon to high altitude on Christmas Day but had postponed the trip because of the weather.

"Lee had adventure in him. He said this was something he wanted to do – fly the balloon at altitude," said Mr Pibworth.

His son, who lived in Bristol and had a wife and 10-year-old son, had worked for Cameron, the world's largest manufacturer of hot air balloons, for nine years, until leaving recently.

Alan Noble, managing director of Cameron, described Mr Pibworth as a "very nice chap" with lots of experience flying hot air balloons, who had carefully planned his trip.

He said: "He recently left the company and retrained to become a tree surgeon. Flying 20,000 feet is not the sort of flight you do every day. We understand that the pilot wanted to get to that height, perhaps as a personal record.

"It is an extra effort and has to be well planned. It is very rare for anything like this to happen with hot air balloons, they are one of the safest forms of transport."

Detective Inspector Mike Williams from Avon and Somerset police, said: "An air crash investigation team are currently looking at the circumstances of this incident to establish the cause.

"We would like to speak to anyone who may have seen the balloon in the air before the incident, or witnessed the balloon come to the ground."

Sarah Allen, spokeswoman for Avon Fire and Rescue Service, said: "The balloon was attempting a high altitude flight and had arranged to fly at 20,000 feet."