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.
On a video on social media, two people can be seen falling through the air as the fire spread onboard the aircraft.
Three people died hugging each other, said Ulisses Gabriel, chief of Santa Catarina's civil police force, on X. ''It hurts the soul.''
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.''
Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed his solidarity with victims' families and said he was placing the federal government at the disposal of victims and local authorities.