One tourist killed, 12 injured in air balloon crash in Egypt

A tourist was killed and 12 other people were injured in a hot air balloon crash near Luxor in Egypt on Friday, state-run news agency MENA reported.

The balloon, with tourists from different nationalities and Egyptians onboard, crashed to the west of the city of Luxor, MENA said.

The health ministry said a woman was killed and 12 people injured but gave no other details.

The security services in the city of Luxor reportedly received a signal of the incident while the balloon toured in an area west of the famous archaeological city near the new desert road.

1 American woman was killed, 7 other passengers were injured in a hot air balloon carrying tourists crash land in bad weather in #Luxor south of #Egypt pic.twitter.com/atdyBRogON

— SaadAbedine (@SaadAbedine) January 5, 2018

Officials said the incident was caused by strong winds that forced the balloon off course above the city.

In 2015, at least 19 people, most of them Asian and European tourists, died near Luxor when a hot air balloon caught fire and crashed after a mid-air gas explosion.