UPDATE: (Sunday/2:55pm ET): NBC Affiliate WWBT out of Richmond is reporting that Virginia State Police have recovered the Third & final body from the accident. More details as they come in…
UPDATE (Saturday/12:41pm ET): ABC is reporting following a news conference that a 2nd body has been found.
READ MORE: ABCNEWS.COM
UPDATE (Saturday/10:17am ET): Doswell, VA- A hot air balloon likely struck a power line before catching on fire and crashing. Authorities believe a pilot and two passengers were in the balloon’s gondola when it caught fire. Federal investigators were dispatched a day later to look into the cause of the accident.
The body of one occupant was recovered in a heavily wooded area overnight, police said May 10. But the balloon wreckage and the other two passengers hadn’t been located and the search was continuing. Police described the effort as a recovery operation and said more people would join the search.
ORIGINAL STORY (Saturday/1:12am ET): A hot air balloon burst into flames and crashed Friday night in Virginia after apparently hitting a power line, prompting a search for the wreckage and the three people believed to have been on board, authorities said.
The incident happened over Doswell, 25 miles north of Richmond, around 7:30 p.m., Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said. Preliminary information indicates the balloon apparently struck a power line and then caught fire, according to Bergen.
Witnesses reported the balloon ablaze and crashing somewhere northeast of Meadow Event Park, according to Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller. Images from the scene show one balloon well above the ground, with its basket in flames.
About two hours later, authorities still didn’t know exactly where the balloon ended up. Nor did they know the condition of the one pilot and two passengers thought to be on board, according to Geller.
“We’ve been actively searching,” the state police spokeswoman said. “At this point, we have found no wreckage.”
There was no rain at the time, Geller said, though severe storms rolling through could complicate the search.
The incident came one day before the scheduled start of the inaugural Mid-Atlantic Balloon Festival, which is set to run through the weekend. On its website, the event’s organizers invite people to “get up close and personal with 20 hot air balloon teams from across the country.”
