Man dies after falling from hot air balloon

A man has died after falling from a hot air balloon and landing on a suburban street in Melbourne.

Paramedics were called to Albert Street in Preston at around 7.30am on Monday.

The body of a man was found on the street. According to police, he was in a hot air balloon at the time of the incident.

Dozens of police officers are on site, the road is cordoned off and closed in both directions.

A neighbor said his brother heard a “loud bang” before the sound of sirens filled the quiet suburban street.

“Actually, all I heard were the sirens, and a lot of them,” he told Today.

“My brother heard a loud bang, almost as if a large object had fallen into the house. And it wasn’t until we heard the sirens that we came out.”

Power lines lay across the street and a white sheet lay on the sidewalk, Today reported.

The balloon landed safely in Yarra Bend Park shortly after the incident. Several other balloon passengers in the area reported hearing a mayday call over the pilot’s radio, Sunrise reports.

The balloons left the Yarra Valley at the same time shortly after 7am and had been in flight for about 15 minutes when the incident occurred.

SES teams and firefighters also rushed to the scene of the accident, apparently in some kind of large-scale emergency response.

Police are currently interviewing other passengers who were in the balloon at the time of the incident, as well as other witnesses, to establish the circumstances of the incident.

A report will be prepared for the coroner.

The death is not being treated as suspicious.

This is not the first time that a hot air balloon has been involved in a serious incident in Melbourne.

A balloon with 13 passengers and a pilot on board collided with a residential building in Ellwood during an emergency landing in April 2022.

Three passengers suffered minor injuries.

In July of the same year, two balloons collided just 6 km south of Alice Springs Airport. The balloons were not damaged and there were no injuries. Both flights continued without further incident.

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