Hot air balloon crash in Eloy kills 4 people, injures another

ELOY, Ariz. - Four people were killed in a hot air balloon crash Sunday morning in Eloy, the police department said on Jan. 14.

At around 7:50 a.m., the crash happened near Sunshine Boulevard and Hanna Road. For now, the cause of the crash isn't known.

Police told FOX 10 at the scene that there were eight skydivers in the balloon who jumped before the incident. Five people remained in the balloon – a pilot and four who were along for the ride.

Then, they said something catastrophic had happened to the balloon.

"Skydivers were able to exit the balloon without incident and complete their skydiving incident and that's when something catastrophic happened and the balloon crashed to the ground," police said.

One of the four victims died at the scene and three were taken to a Casa Grande hospital where they died. The fifth victim was airlifted to a hospital in Phoenix and is in critical condition.

Authorities say some of the victims are from out of town. The victims were identified by Eloy Police officials on Jan. 15.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are investigating.

No more information was released. 

Map of the area where the crash happened: