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2 Spanish Tourists Killed in Air Balloon Accident in Türkiye’s Cappadocia

Sight-seeing hot air balloons launch in Goreme Historical National Park, east of Nevesehir (Neapolis) in the province of the same name in central Türkiye's historical Cappadocia (Kapadokya) region on August 24, 2022. (AFP)
Sight-seeing hot air balloons launch in Goreme Historical National Park, east of Nevesehir (Neapolis) in the province of the same name in central Türkiye's historical Cappadocia (Kapadokya) region on August 24, 2022. (AFP)
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2 Spanish Tourists Killed in Air Balloon Accident in Türkiye’s Cappadocia

Sight-seeing hot air balloons launch in Goreme Historical National Park, east of Nevesehir (Neapolis) in the province of the same name in central Türkiye's historical Cappadocia (Kapadokya) region on August 24, 2022. (AFP)
Sight-seeing hot air balloons launch in Goreme Historical National Park, east of Nevesehir (Neapolis) in the province of the same name in central Türkiye's historical Cappadocia (Kapadokya) region on August 24, 2022. (AFP)

Two Spanish tourists were killed and three were injured on Tuesday when the hot air balloon they were traveling in made a hard landing in Türkiye’s Cappadocia, the local governor's office said.

The hot air balloon had taken off from the district of Avanos at sunrise, the governor of Nevsehir province said.

"During the landing of the balloon, which was carrying 28 passengers and two crew members, two Spanish nationals lost their lives, while three Spanish citizens were injured," he said in a statement.

"The treatment of those injured is continuing in hospitals in our city and they are not life-threatening," it said.

The statement said the accident was caused by an unexpected increase in wind speed, according to initial assessments.

Hot air balloon rides are one of the most popular activities in the Cappadocia region, where they fly over valleys and volcanic "fairy chimney" formations.

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Thousands Join Effort to Clean Up Catastrophic Spanish Floods

Rescue workers walk, following heavy rains that caused floods, in Paiporta, near Valencia, Spain, November 1, 2024. REUTERS/Nacho Doce
Rescue workers walk, following heavy rains that caused floods, in Paiporta, near Valencia, Spain, November 1, 2024. REUTERS/Nacho Doce
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Thousands Join Effort to Clean Up Catastrophic Spanish Floods

Rescue workers walk, following heavy rains that caused floods, in Paiporta, near Valencia, Spain, November 1, 2024. REUTERS/Nacho Doce
Rescue workers walk, following heavy rains that caused floods, in Paiporta, near Valencia, Spain, November 1, 2024. REUTERS/Nacho Doce

An arts and science center which normally plays host to opera performances was on Saturday transformed into the nerve center for the clean-up operation after catastrophic floods in eastern Spain which have claimed at least 207 lives.
Volunteers went to Valencia's City of Arts and Sciences for the first coordinated clean-up organized by regional authorities, Reuters reported.
On Friday, the mass spontaneous arrival of volunteers complicated access for professional emergency workers to some areas, prompting authorities to devise a plan on how and where to deploy them.
Carlos Mazon, Valencian regional president posted on X on Friday: "Tomorrow, Saturday, at 7 in the morning, together with the Volunteer Platform, we will launch the volunteer center to better organize, (and) transport the help of those who are helping from the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia."
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was due to address the nation on Saturday morning.
In some of the worst-hit areas, people have resorted to looting because they have no food or water. Police said on Friday they had arrested 27 people for robbing shops and offices in the Valencia area.
More than 90% of the households in Valencia had regained power on Friday, utility Iberdrola said, though thousands still lacked electricity in cut-off areas that rescuers struggled to reach.
Some 2,000 soldiers were deployed to search for people who are still missing and help survivors of the storm, which triggered a new weather alert in the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencia, where rains are expected to continue during the weekend.
Officials said the death toll is likely to keep rising. It is already Spain's worst flood-related disaster in more than five decades and the deadliest to hit Europe since the 1970s.