Killer balloons in China

The evening sky over picturesque Yangshuo was filled with hot-air balloons when a friend and I visited this spring. It seemed like a great idea — drifting over the jagged peaks and rice paddies for a couple of hours while the sun set.

We should have known safety standards weren't up to snuff when a worker inflating the massive balloon lit a cigarette, within feet of several huge tanks of very flammable fuel. Still, we laughed, climbed into the tiny basket and waited to take off. Just before the balloon tethers were released for our flight, my friend felt a liquid dripping down her back. She smelled it and we knew: it was a gas leak. We scrambled out of the basket as the burner and parts of the wicker basket caught fire. The pilot and workers doused the blaze before the balloon exploded, but we knew we'd made a narrow escape.

I imagine the Dutch tourists killed in a balloon crash this week in Yangshuo thought much like we did before getting into that balloon: The equipment looked old, rickety and very worn out, but they wouldn't be flying tourists around in unsafe balloons, right?

But with tourism increasing fast and demand for balloon rides high, the balloon operators don't always test or maintain the gas burners properly. A grim reminder to trust your gut in China when it comes to safety.

http://www.globalpost.com/notebook/commerce/091014/killer-balloons-china