Montserrat Peñaloza and Dana Estrada / Reform Agency
Saturday, April 01, 2023 | 19:16
The Autocinema Rearvisor company that operated the hot air balloon that caught fire this morning, leaving a couple dead and their daughter injured, had registered another fire seven months ago.
According to state sources, the company did not have permits for the operation of hot air balloons by the Federal Aviation Agency.
According to police records, in August 2022, three other tourists were injured with second and third degree burns in a balloon operated by said company.
In the accident, a Chilean man and his two children were injured when a balloon caught fire from a flash, during an elevation in Teotihuacán.
Said company also did not have official registration in the Public Registry of Commerce.
This morning, in the Municipality of Teotihuacán, in the State of Mexico, a hot air balloon caught fire in mid-flight, apparently due to a gas leak, leaving two people dead and a minor injured.
The Secretary of Public Security of the State of Mexico confirmed that the crew members jumped from the balloon that fell in the common known as Oxtoyohualco, in the Colonia San Lorenzo Tlalmimilolpan.
Hot air balloon operating companies operate clandestinely and without following current regulations, indicated the Federation of Teotihuacán Hot Air Balloons (Fegat).
He indicated that the balloon involved in the incident was not part of the flight teams of the permit holders that make up the agency.
“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 clandestinely,” the agency said.
