Hot-air balloon crash in Brazil kills at least eight people
SAO PAULO, June 21 (Reuters) - At least eight people died after a hot-air balloon with an estimated 22 people crashed in Brazil's southern state of Santa Catarina, the state governor Jorginho Mello said on Saturday morning in a post on X.
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Telegraph
4 hours ago
- Telegraph
Eight dead after hot-air balloon bursts into flames
At least eight people have died after a hot-air balloon caught fire and plunged to the ground in Brazil. Of the 21 people on board, 13 survived and have been rushed to the hospital in the city of Praia Grande. Footage shared by the local news outlet G1 appeared to show the hot-air balloon catching fire and plummeting towards the ground, letting out billows of smoke. In a video on X, Jorginho Mello, governor of Brazil's southern state of Santa Catarina, said: 'We are in mourning. A tragedy has happened. We will see how it unfolds, what happened, why it happened. But the important thing now is for the state structure to do what it can.' The governor added that he has asked authorities to head to the municipality 'to do as much as possible to rescue, to help, to take to hospital, to comfort the families'. Praia Grande, which is known as the 'capital of the canyons', is a common destination for hot-air ballooning and attracts scores of tourists. Local sources say an investigation has been launched to discover the cause of the incident. The accident comes after a woman died in a hot-air balloon ride in Brazil's southeastern state of Sao Paulo on June 15.
NBC News
8 hours ago
- NBC News
8 killed, 13 injured after hot-air balloon catches fire and falls in Brazil
RIO DE JANEIRO — A hot-air balloon caught fire and tumbled from the sky on Saturday in Brazil 's southern state of Santa Catarina, killing eight people, firefighters said. Footage shared by local news outlet G1 showed billows of smoke coming from the balloon in flames as it hurtled toward the ground in the municipality of Praia Grande. Thirteen people survived and were taken to hospitals, Santa Catarina's military fire brigade said, adding that 21 people were on board including the pilot. 'We are in mourning. A tragedy has happened. We will see how it unfolds, what happened, why it happened. But the important thing now is for the state structure to do what it can,' Gov. Jorginho Mello said in a video on X. Mello said he has asked authorities to head to the municipality 'to do as much as possible to rescue, to help, to take to hospital, to comfort the families.' Praia Grande is a common destination for hot-air ballooning, a popular activity in some parts of Brazil's south during June festivities that celebrate Catholic saints such as St. John. Last Sunday, a balloon came down in Sao Paulo state, killing a 27-year-old woman and injuring 11 other people, G1 reported.
Telegraph
8 hours ago
- Telegraph
Mohamed Fayed paid spies to discover ‘truth' about Diana's death
Mohamed Fayed paid Egyptian secret service agents millions in exchange for information about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, it can be revealed. The former Harrods owner spent a decade before his death channelling cash to his native country's agents in London, via a secret network of companies. The billionaire businessman – who has been accused by numerous women of rape and sexual assault while boss of Harrods – was desperate to obtain secret intelligence about the death of his eldest son Dodi and the Princess in Paris in August 1997. Sources say he hoped to receive confirmation from Egyptian secret service operatives of his belief that the British intelligence services had a hand in the fatal crash in the Alma tunnel. Fayed had grown convinced that the British establishment feared the idea of Dodi, an Egyptian, as a possible stepfather to the future King. At one stage, he told an Egyptian secret service agent that he knew the British intelligence services had killed the pair because they feared the possibility of the couple having a child who would be 'a Muslim brother to the future King'. His claims were discredited, along with other conspiracy theories about the Princess's death, following the three-year Operation Paget investigation by Sir John Stevens, the former Metropolitan Police commissioner. Sir John concluded in December 2006 that the pair had died as a result of an accident. Two years later, a jury inquest delivered a verdict of 'unlawful killing' due to the 'gross negligence' of Henri Paul, the driver, who was three times over the limit, as well as the speed of paparazzi photographers chasing them. Fayed, who died aged 94 in August 2023, is suspected of raping and sexually assaulting more than 100 women, dating back to the 1970s. More than 100 alleged victims have contacted police to say they were sexually abused by the tycoon. The youngest is thought to have been 13 at the time. A number of allegations were made against Fayed while he was still alive. Investigators twice sent files for a charging decision to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) – in 2008, relating to three victims and in 2015 linked to one other. On another three occasions – in 2018, 2021 and 2023 – the CPS was asked for what is called early investigative advice, but the matters were not pursued further by police. The Telegraph has been told that over the decade before his death, Fayed channelled 'some millions of pounds' through a network of holding companies and commercial businesses to fund agents and informants run by the Egyptian general intelligence service, known as the Mukhabarat, in London. One source with knowledge of the payments said: 'Over a ten-year period, sums amounting to some millions of pounds were paid in cash or Bitcoin from Fayed through various companies to the Egyptian intelligence services for their operations in the UK and some in Ireland. The money was eventually paid to agents and officers. 'In return, he would get sensitive information about business rivals in Qatar and Brunei.' The source added: 'Fayed also wanted information about the death of Dodi and Diana. The Egyptian secret services told him the British establishment had not liked her relationship with Dodi, but they said to him that they had no information to offer him about the way Dodi and Diana had died. 'In fact, agents warned Fayed about his behaviour in continuing to make loud claims about MI5 and MI6 having a role in their deaths.' Sources have told The Telegraph: 'Al-Fayed's manner after the killing of his son Dodi was completely unbalanced, and he was always shouting when speaking to the Egyptian intelligence officers, which made them not pay much attention to his requests.' Fayed's youngest son, Omar, has told The Telegraph that for several years he had been aware of shadowy individuals in his father's circle who he suspected were linked to the Egyptian intelligence services. Responding to the claims that his father paid Egyptian secret agents hoping for information about the Princess, Omar said: 'My father was a very generous man and he was an information addict. ' Following the tycoon's death, Fayed's widow, the Finnish socialite Heini Wathen-Fayed, and their children fell out over the dispersal of his estate, which is estimated at £1.3 billion. The Egyptian intelligence services are understood to have become concerned that an important funding stream for their intelligence work in the UK would be cut off as a result. It is understood that business intermediaries tried unsuccessfully to seek a meeting with Mrs Wathen-Fayed, to persuade her to 'continue her late husband's work' and carry on providing funding from his assets. Another Cairo-based source, who works for one of Fayed's institutions, said: 'One of the guards who works [here] and was recruited from the Egyptian general intelligence service informed me that some of the most prominent leaders of the service are very interested in determining the amount of money and wealth left by Al-Fayed and are seeking to continue its work as it was in the past.' Fayed rose from an impoverished childhood in Alexandria to build a multi-billion-dollar business empire. At the time of his death, he still owned the Paris Ritz, which he bought in 1979, though he sold Harrods in 2010 to the investment arm of Qatar's sovereign wealth fund for a reported £1.5 billion. Mrs Wathen-Fayed, his second wife, whom he married in 1985, was tasked with splitting an inherited property empire, which includes apartment buildings overlooking Hyde Park, a Scottish castle and apartments in New York, between his four children. Omar Fayed, now 36, said that his father's desire to discover what he was convinced was 'the truth' behind the death of Dodi and the Princess would have motivated any relationship he had with the Egyptian secret intelligence services. The environmentalist and publisher said: 'He always wanted a competitive advantage over his business rivals and he always wanted to know what had happened to Dodi and Diana, even if he had, towards the end, reconciled himself to what he said was 'letting God sort it out'. 'His papers and documents on the subject of Dodi and Diana were so huge they crossed continents, and any information the Egyptian SIS could have provided would have been very welcome to him.' Mr Fayed said that it was highly unlikely his mother would be prepared to agree to any request from Egyptian secret services to carry on her late husband's arrangement. He added: 'I certainly wouldn't be surprised if they [Egyptian SIS] would want to approach us to carry on getting funding. 'I have been approached by one Egyptian national who ran a private security firm about money owed to him by my father to 'look after' his [Fayed's] family. He wants the money to continue.'
