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A hot air balloon racing across the country in an international competition exploded Monday night after it crashed into a power line in Kaufman County.
Two pilots from Poland, Krzysztof Zapart and Piotr Halas, were injured in the blaze and taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, where they are expected to recover, race officials said.The gas-powered balloon was sailing over Crandall — roughly 25 miles southeast of Dallas — at 7:25 p.m. Monday when it crashed into high-powered transmission lines, causing gas to ignite.
Teams from nine countries launched Saturday evening from the Balloon Fiesta Park in Albuquerque, N.M. Zapart and Halas initially led the balloons after winning the lottery draw to determine the order they would take off,“Ballooning overall is a safe sport, but winning the Gordon Bennett requires balloonists to test their skills and abilities to the limit,” thereads. “Calculated risk-taking is a given. Those risk sometimes pay off, but on a few occasions have ended in tragedy.
In 2010, Americans Richard Abruzzo and Carol Rymer Davis were killed 78 hours into their flight from Bristol, England, when their balloon was struck by lightning over the Adriatic Sea, the website says., this was Zapart’s ninth Gordon Bennett race, in which he finished in the top five in his past eight attempts. Halas last competed in the race in 1997.
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