(ROUGH CUT ONLY - NO REPORTER NARRATION)<br/> <br />A hot air balloon crashed near the Egyptian town of Luxor at dawn on Tuesday after a mid-air gas explosion, killing 19 Asian and European tourists, a local industry official and the state news agency said.<br/> <br />A spokesman for balloon operators in the area told Reuters that one tourist and the pilot had survived the crash, which followed the blast at 1,000 feet (300 metres).<br/> <br />The dead were from Britain, France, Japan and Hong Kong, the state news agency MENA reported, citing a security source.<br/> <br />The accident happened over the west bank of the Nile River.
