Tuesday April 4, 2023 – A pilot has been arrested after jumping out of burning hot air balloon basket, leaving a husband and wife to die in Mexico .
Victor Guzmán was detained after jumping 16 feet from the burning balloon and running from the scene.
He was detained after being discharged from hospital with burns covering 50 percent of his body.
José Nolasco, 50, and his wife, Viridiana Becerril, 39, were killed when the hot air balloo plunged to the ground in the fiery crash over a pre-Hispanic pyramid site in Teotihuacán, State of Mexico, on Saturday, April 1.
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.
The frightening video footage shows occupants appearing to either fall or jump from the craft.
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 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 caught fire. She is said to have jumped out of the balloon while it floated covered in flames.
Reyna Sarmiento said: “The girl tells us that the gas tank there, the hydrostatic gas tank, started to light up and that was what started to burn. She says her parents hugged her, but she turned away from them and she jumped.”
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.
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