a tragedy as bad as tragedies get

昔、Cartertonの近くをドライブしていたときに熱気球を見ました。ご冥福をお祈りします。It's a tragedy as bad as tragedies get.このフレーズがしみます。（Sugiuchi）

Hot air balloon crash near Carterton kills 11
Grieving family and friends of the Carterton balloon crash victims have left flowers at the edge of the police cordon at the scene of the accident. Eleven people died this morning in a fiery hot air balloon crash north of the Wairarapa town, in what police have described as a national tragedy.

Two of the eleven bodies are being removed from the scene of the crash. They will be taken to Wellington Hospital's mortuary. The other nine bodies will remain at the scene overnight. The final moments of the doomed balloon flight before it exploded were caught by nine-year-old Carterton schoolboy Ryan Beckett.

"I saw the balloon then ran back inside to get my camera," he said. After taking the pictures of the balloon, Ryan put his camera down. Moments later it hit power lines. On one side of a police cordon this afternoon investigators were sifting through ashes in a bid to learn what went wrong. On the other side tearful people arrived at Somerset Road carrying flowers.

With tears pouring from eyes covered by dark sunglasses, a man and two women placed flowers near the road sign, followed soon after by a woman on her own. Police said the balloon was preparing to land in a paddock after a 45-minute flight when it hit wires on a power line, causing sparking in the basket carrying the pilot and passengers.

"At this point, two of the 11 people on board, believed to be a male and a female, appear to have jumped from the basket,'' Wairarapa police area commander Brent Register said. The balloon then made a sharp ascent, a fire ignited and the balloon plummeted into a paddock on Somerset Road, near State Highway 2.

Pilot Lance Hopping and five couples from the Wellington region have been confirmed dead by police, who have not yet released any names. "This is a huge national, significant event. It's a tragedy as bad as tragedies get. Yes, it will affect our community here in the Wairarapa,'' Register said.

He promised a thorough investigation. "We are continuing to work with our partner agencies, which include the Coroner's office, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Transport Accident and Investigation Commission, Dept of Labour, NZ Fire Service and Victim Support." "We are still in the process of identifying each of the 11 people and notifying their next of kin and this process will take some time, given it requires the skills of expert Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) staff."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/6224922/Hot-air-balloon-crash-near-Carterton-kills-11