Victims' families and Carterton residents were in shock after a hot air balloon burst into flames and crashed in New Zealand.<br/> All eleven people on board including the pilot were killed.<br/> (SOUNDBITE) WITNESS DAVID McKINLEY SAYING(English):<br/> "It was just flames and it was just a long streak probably about 10 metres of flame as it was hurling towards the ground. The impact must have been terrible. I was unbelievably shocked when I saw it. Especially to think that I'd been up that balloon myself."<br/> Local television reported some family members were watching when the accident occurred.<br/> One eye witness described how they called out to her for help.<br/> (SOUNDBITE) EYEWITNESS JACQUI O'CONNOR SAYING(English):<br/> "They were saying come now. Mum and dad have been in a balloon accident, it's burst into flames and they are dead."<br/> Police said the balloon appeared to have clipped powerlines before it caught fire and went down in farmland, 50 miles northeast of Wellington.<br/> (SOUNDBITE) POLICE INSPECTOR BRENT REGISTER SAYING(English):<br/> "As the balloon was preparing to land it's hit the power lines causing sparking in the basket and a fire. At this point two passengers believe to be a male and a female appear to have jumped out of the basket. The balloon then made a sharp decent, the fires ignited on board and this has caused the balloon to plummet to a paddock 200 metres away on Somerset Road."<br/> Police said they were still in the process of identifying the 11 people killed and notifying their next of kin.<br/> The pilot, named in the media as Lance Hopping, had been flying balloons in the region for over 16 years.<br/> Some of the victims had been given the tickets as a Christmas gift.<br/> After the balloon ride the group were to sit down to a champagne breakfast in a cafe in town.<br/> It was now closed out of respect.<br/> This accident was New Zealand's worst air disaster in over three decades.<br/> Marie-Claire Fennessy, Reuters
