The pilot of a hot air balloon jumped from the burning aircraft leaving a couple to die. The pilot was Victor Guzman, and he jumped sixteen feet from the burning balloon to leave a husband and his wife to die in the burning balloon as their thirteen-year-old daughter was hospitalized in the wake of the tragic incident that occurred in Mexico.
Guzman jumped from the hot air balloon while it was just sixteen feet in the air. He suffered burns to his face and arms and went to get treated at a hospital on Saturday. He was arrested on Sunday after the tragedy turned fatal and was arrested on Sunday for failing to help the family in their moment of need.
After the pilot jumped from the hot air balloon, the aircraft rose into the air until it was more than one hundred and thirty feet high. The ball of flame continued to burn until it plummeted to the ground in a burning inferno. In the end, 50-year-old Jose Nolasco and his wife, 39-year-old Viridiana Becerril, were killed in the accident. Their thirteen-year-old daughter survived the crash but is listed as still in critical condition. The horrible incident occurred in the pyramid site in Teotihuacán, State of Mexico, on Saturday.
The surviving daughter is named Regina Itzani. She remains hospitalized with a broken arm and second-degree burns.
Now, Guzman, the pilot, faces two alleged homicide charges for abandoning the hot air balloon when it burst into flames. Guzman is being investigated by officers with the State of Mexico Attorney General’s Office that he abandoned the hot air balloon because he did not know how to respond to the emergency when the hot air balloon burst into flames.
The hot air balloon ride had been a surprise for Becerril. The aircraft took off around 8 am. However, there was an issue with the gas that caused the aircraft to take on flame, and soon the entire thing was burning.
Becerril’s mother, Reyna Sarmiento, organized the surprise trip and spoke to the thirteen-year-old survivor after the incident.
“The girl tells us that the gas tank there, the hydrostatic gas tank, started to light up, and that was what started to burn,” Sarmiento said. “She says her parents hugged her, but she turned away from them, and she jumped.”
Now, the Federal Aviation Agency is leading an investigation into the horrible incident. They want to see whether the company that hired Guzman had the authority to lead the hot air balloon ride and if they had the proper insurance to cover the accident. The company in charge of the hot air balloon was Autocinema Retroviso, which is owned by Zaid Sanchez, whose uncle, Mario Vidal, is commissioner of the Teotihuacán public security department, so there could be corruption at play.
Teotihuacán Hot Air Balloon Federation confirmed that this company was not listed as an official company to offer hot air balloon rides.
“It is imperative that these same authorities act effectively in order to cancel the operations of companies that, unfortunately, operate outside the legal framework and sometimes in hiding, affecting the safety of the operations of all of us who operate in the immediate vicinity of the archaeological site of Teotihuacán,” the federation said.
