Wife Seriously Injured in Hot Air Balloon Crash While Visiting Vegas, Husband Says: 'Fire and Blood Everywhere'
Wife Seriously Injured in Hot Air Balloon Crash While Visiting Vegas, Husband Says: 'Fire and Blood Everywhere'
Adam EnglandTue, June 23, 2026 at 4:02 PM UTC
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The scene of a hot air balloon crash in Nye County, Nevada, on June 18Credit: Nye County Sheriff's Office -
A hot air balloon with 10 people on board crashed outside Las Vegas on Thursday, June 18
Brant Kairit, who was visiting the city with family, said his wife was seriously injured in the incident
The Federal Aviation Administration has been investigating
A Mississippi family's first hot air balloon ride was supposed to be a highlight of their Las Vegas trip — until the craft made a hard landing that left one of them seriously injured and multiple other passengers with burns and injuries.
Authorities were first alerted to the incident around 6:30 a.m. local time on Thursday, June 18, when someone texted 911 "saying that there had been a hot air balloon crash in the Stewart Valley dry lake west of Pahrump," which is outside Vegas, the Nye County Sheriff's Office said in a statement to PEOPLE.
Ten people were on board, officials said.
Brant Kairit's family was among them. They were visiting to see a Kenny Chesney concert and also decided to go on an excursion with Vegas Balloon Rides, according to Fox affiliate KVVU and The Las Vegas Review-Journal.
They were joined on the ride by other tourist groups.
"It was a wonderful experience," Kairit told KVVU, "until the last 30 seconds."
"We landed and went up in the air for a little bit — 20, 30 feet — and it [the balloon basket] tipped over on its side with the smaller rectangular part on the ground," said Kairit, who was left on the ground while his relatives were on the other side of the basket sticking up in the air.
A fire also broke out from the crash.
Nye County Sheriff Joe McGill told local station KLAS that "the occupants of the basket all fell on top of each other, and also during a rolling or bumping the ground or whatever, the gas actuator was bumped which caused the gas to ignite."
According to a preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration, the balloon was landing when it was hit by "a gust of wind" and bounced on the ground.
Though Kairit said "we managed to get out [and] start stomping out the fire," his wife, Elizabeth, was injured.
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"Once I got out, there was smoke and fire and blood everywhere," Kairit told the Review-Journal.
With no cell phone service, they alerted authorities via text and drove themselves to a hospital, according to the sheriff's office.
Deputies responded to the scene where they met with the balloon company's crew.
One unnamed passenger was left with a "severe head injury" and multiple others had second- or third-degree burns and "other blunt force injuries," the sheriff's office said. Further details were not available.
"This is the first time I can recall having injuries like this," the sheriff told KLAS. (Vegas Balloon Rides did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.)
Elizabeth sustained broken bones in her nose and sternum and fractures in her back and neck and remained hospitalized as of Sunday, June 21, her husband alleged.
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Still, "she seems to be doing really well," Kairit told the Review-Journal. "She was able to walk today."
The family has reportedly remained at their Las Vegas hotel, where their stay was extended at a discounted rate.
The FAA is investigating, a spokesperson said.
on People
Source: “AOL Breaking”
