2025 Santa Catarina hot air balloon crash

On 21 June 2025, a hot air balloon caught fire and crashed in Praia Grande, Santa Catarina, Brazil, killing 8 of the 21 people on board.

It is the deadliest ballooning accident in Brazil and the deadliest worldwide since 2016, when 16 people were killed in a collision between a hot air balloon and power lines near Lockhart, Texas, United States.

Background

Praia Grande is a municipality located in southern Santa Catarina, a state in the South Region of Brazil. For being a known destination for hot air ballooning activities, it is called "Brazilian Cappadocia", with around 100 balloon flights daily. Newspaper Clarín reported that hot air ballooning is particularly popular in June and couples usually celebrate Dia dos Namorados (Portuguese for Lovers' Day) on June 12 by doing it.

Hot air ballooning in the country is regulated by the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil, ANAC), which requires specific qualifications for pilots and maintenance of the equipment, although the agency itself considers it as a "high risk" activity and tourist flights in balloons are not regulated.

The balloon had a six-meter-wide basket, the capacity to transport a maximum of 24 people at the cost of per passenger and carried out in 45-minute-long trips up to 1,000 meters high. News portal G1 reported that the company involved in the accident is Sobrevoar Serviços Turísticos, which operates in Praia Grande, and that the vehicle had permission to fly. The owner, which suspended its activities indefinitely after the disaster, said it complied with all regulations and had a clean accident record prior to it.

It was the second fatal balloon crash in the country in less than a week, when an unlicensed balloon carrying 35 people fell in Capela do Alto, São Paulo state, killing a 27-year-old woman celebrating Dia dos Namorados with her husband and injuring 11 other people six days earlier.

Accident

The pilot, who survived the crash, said that at c. 9:30 a.m. BRT, two minutes into the flight, a fire started inside the basket, forcing him to reduce the balloon’s elevation in an effort to allow the occupants to jump out to safety. However, several occupants failed to jump and the balloon, with the weight relieved, rose immediately, trapping the eight victims who were unable to escape in time. It consequently fell after being deflated by the flames. The fall occurred near a healthcare center, in a wooded area just two kilometers away from the takeoff site. Around 30 military firefighters were dispatched to the scene with the support of several vehicles and an aircraft.

The weather conditions were clear in the region at the time of the accident. Footage shared on social media show the balloon aloft in flames and people jumping from the basket.