Visitors to the US city of Baltimore were left stranded hundreds of feet above the ground after a hot air balloon trip turned into a nightmare.
The balloon, tethered to the ground by a cable, was buffeted by fierce winds which damaged a winch, causing it to sway wildly from side to side, Sky News reported
It took rescuers an hour and a half to stabilise the balloon and get the passengers safely back to the ground.
One passenger told Sky: “You really needed to hang on. I thought the cable was going to break many times.”
Four people suffered minor injuries in the incident, but a spokesman for the company operating the tourist flight, Balloon Over Baltimore, said passengers remained calm.
He said the giant, helium-filled balloon, which has space on board for 30 people, had operated every summer since 2001 without incident and that a full investigation was underway to find out why the winch had failed.
