Eleven people have been killed after a hot air balloon crashed near Carterton this morning, in New zealand's worst aviation disaster since the 1979 Erebus crash.
Police said they received "around half a dozen calls from residents in the Somerset Road area reporting a hot air balloon in difficulty" around 7.30am.
Wairarapa Area Commander Inspector Brent Register says Police began receiving reports from eye witnesses about 7:25am, where they reported a hot air balloon in distress.
"It appears the hot air balloon operated by Early Morning Balloons left Kent Street, Carterton (behind The Paua Factory), between 6:40am and 6:45am."
He says after a 45-minute flight, the balloon was to land in a paddock in Somerset Road, Carterton. As the balloon was preparing to land, it hit wires on a power line, causing sparking in the basket.
"At this point, two of the 11 people onboard, believed to be a male and a female, appear to have jumped from the basket."
Inspector Register says the balloon then made a sharp ascent, a fire ignited on board and the balloon plummeted into a paddock approx 200 metres away on Somerset Road.
Police said they are working with a number of agencies including the Fire Service, the Coroner's office, the Transport Accident and Investigation Commission, Civil Aviation Authority and the Department of Labour, to determine the cause of the crash.
One witness described flames bursting from the balloon's basket as it hit the ground.
The victims were also reported to all be from the Wellington and Kapiti Coast regions.
It has been confirmed that there were five couples and the pilot killed in the incident.
David McKinlay, a Hornesberry St resident, said "It looked as if he had tried to take it higher. It was just flames and it was just a long streak of flames. Probably about 10 metres long. The impact must have been terrible."
McKinlay, who called 111, saw the flames shooting out of the basket of the dark blue and maroon striped balloon.
After alerting emergency services, he said the balloon was 150 metres in the air and dropped quickly, describing it as "just a sheer flame as it hit the ground."
"It came down like a bloody rocket and then there was a big bang," he said.
Resident Don Cunningham told TVNZ he saw the balloon make what appeared to be a controlled descent, about half an hour after it took off.
"Conditions were perfect. There is hardly any wind so it wasn't moving very quickly," he said.
"I saw the canopy going down and then I heard some screaming and shouting and then suddenly a big pall of smoke."
Mr Cunningham said emergency services were quickly on the scene and the fire was extinguished shortly after.
Ballooning NZ director Lance Hopping is thought to be the owner of the hot air balloon, although it is not known if he was on board the flight. He has over 1000 hours of commercial ballooning experience.
The balloon is believed to be a Cameron A-210, which can carry ten passengers plus one pilot.
Hopping is the safety manager of the popular Balloons Over Wairarapa event, according to organiser Jonathan Hooker.
There was a Transpower electricity outage immediately following the accident, although it is not known how widespread the power cut was.
"The power went out at our place in Carterton," said local Bella Biggs.
"They hit a power pole. Power has only just come back on."
Superintendent Rusbatch said a disaster victim identification team is heading to the scene to begin the process of identifying the bodies.
"This is an absolutely tragic incident and our thoughts are with the families of the deceased. We are in the process of notifying next of kin however we will not be releasing any names until all next of kin have been advised.
"We also have a number of police staff who are working with the families of the deceased to provide them with the support they need at this very difficult time."
A no fly zone is also in place at the scene.
Carterton Mayor Ron Mark said it was his toughest day.
"It's certainly the hardest time that I've seen in my time back home.
"And it's not just Carterton - it's also the whole of the Wairarapa.
"For me, as the mayor of Carterton, I'm conscious of supporting the wider services personnel, police and fire, because it's obvious that they're going to know people who were on that balloon."
He said that iwi representative Mike Kawana and Reverend David Cole had both been invited onto the scene to bless the site of the crash.
Carterton District Council was supporting police and fire staff who were using the Carterton Fire Station as an operations base, and the Carterton Events Centre would be made available to families of the victims.
"It's a small tight knit community... it's very tragic for New Zealand but for a little community like ours it hits home," he said.
"The community is bracing itself for names that it knows."
Police say they have no details yet of what caused the early morning crash in clear, bright conditions with minimal wind. The region is well known for its hot air ballooning.
The accident is the worst New Zealand aviation disaster since the Erebus disaster in 1979, when a sightseeing flight over Antarctica hit Mount Erebus in whiteout conditions and 257 people were killed.
- New Zealand Herald/APNZ/Wairarapa Times-Age
