A gas cylinder exploded aboard a tourist balloon hovering above Egypt’s fabled “Valley of the Kings”, setting it ablaze and sending it plummeting to earth.  Conflicting reports say either 18 or 19 people were killed, believed to be foreign tourists.

A video taken by someone on another balloon shows the stricken aircraft rising with a trail of smoke.  The injured pilot, his clothing aflame, had apparently already had lept from the gondola.  One tourist, the only survivor, lept out as well.  But the decreased weight sent the balloon soaring higher, with the remainder of the helpless tourists aboard, until the flames compromised the balloon fabric and the whole thing crashed from approximately 300 meters up.  Ambulances arrived within 15 minutes, only to find a line of bodies in a sugar cane field leading to the charred basket. Somehow the pilot managed to survive the plunge, but he's being treated for burns.

A witness in another balloon says her pilot told her that the stricken balloon had clipped a high-tension electrical power cable, which ignited the gas cylinder.  Another version goes, the fire started because a gas hose became detached from the cylinder.  An investigation is hoped to clear up the cause.

Three British citizens are among the dead, which also included tourists from France, Hungary, Hong Kong, and Japan.  The governor of Luxor has ordered all balloon companies in the region to cease operations for the time being.