Of the 21 people on board, 13 survived and are being treated in hospital.
We are in mourning. A tragedy has occurred. We will see how it develops, what happened, why it happened. But the important thing now is that the authorities do what they can, says Governor Jorginho Mello in a video on X.
Brazil's President Lula da Silva also expressed his solidarity with the victims' families and offered state support.
The cause of the accident is being investigated, but according to the pilot – who is one of the survivors – a fire started inside the basket, after which he began to lower the balloon.
"When the balloon was very close to the ground, he ordered people to jump out of the basket", writes the newspaper Folha de Sao.
The media company Globo reports that the flight was supposed to last 45 minutes, that the balloon reached a height of 1,000 meters and that the tickets cost around 1,000 kronor.
The company responsible says that they followed all rules and have not been affected by any accidents before. The company is cancelling all activities for an indefinite period.
The region is, according to Globo, a well-known destination for hot air balloon rides. According to the company, another hot air balloon accident occurred in the state of São Paulo, north of Santa Catarina, less than a week ago, where a woman died and eleven people were injured.
