The Public Security Secretariat of the state of Hidalgo, headed by Alfredo Ahedo Mayorga, informed that at 8:20 this morning locals reported that a hot-air balloon fell in the municipality of Acatlán.
Rescue teams and civil protection arrived to the site to provide the necessary aid to the 13 persons that were on board the balloon, finding two dead bodies and and the rest of the passengers with various lesions. These were transported to three different hospitals in Metepec and Tulancingo.
The Tourism and Culture Secretary of Hidalgo Roberto Pedraza Martínez informed that the company responsible is “Mexico Aeronautic Club,” whose owner Germán Osorio Vargas, of 55 years of age, was the pilot of the crashed balloon, according to information from the Health Secretariat. Osorio Vargas is in a coma with burns on 60 percent of his body, and is being treated in the hospital Santa María de Tulancingo.
Also in this hospital is Hugo Isacc Benítez Avilés, 26 years of age, with burns over 25 to 30 percent of his body.
Three other victims were being treated in Metepec: 33 year old Cinthya Ileana Peña Díaz, declared stable with contusions; 30 year old Gabriel Santiago González Martínez, stable with only lesions on his face; Mario Arturo Macías Soto, reported to be in critical conditions, with 65 percent of her body with second and third degree burns, and who has been taken to Mexico City’s National Rehabilitation Institute for further specialized treatment, informed the Hidalgo Social Security Institute.
The rest of the passengers did not require being hospitalized.