Woman Dies in Hot Air Balloon Accident

Jenny Albano

Contributor

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A woman died in a hot air balloon crash on Monday, October 8 during an annual balloon festival in Albuquerque. The balloon tipped over after getting caught on fiberoptic line running above a power line at about 8 a.m., which sent 60 year old Rosemary Wooley Phillips to her death. She over 60 feet after falling from the hot air balloon.

When the craft got caught the pilot threw down a tether to a pickup truck on the ground to reel the balloon down and release it, but the tether broke and the balloon flew back up which caused the basket to tip over.

Paramedics tried to revive Phillips but they were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, the balloon had a crash landing near Interstate 25. The hot air balloon had four other occupants, but authorities do not know the condition of the pilot or the three other passengers.

The crash site is about three miles from the launch site for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, a nine-day event that began Saturday and features mass ascensions of balloons, events for special shaped balloons and competitions for pilots.

In recent years there have been numerous fatalities from hot air balloon accidents.