Hot Air Balloon Crashes Into Moving Train

Three people suffered what police described as life-threatening injuries Wednesday night after one of the rarest of transport collisions—a crash between a train and a hot air balloon. Authorities say the balloon hit a northbound Canadian National train in Burlington, Wisconsin, around 8:15pm, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports. Two of the three injured adults aboard the balloon were airlifted to a hospital around 30 miles away and the third was transported by ambulance.

Witnesses said the balloon appeared to be in distress as it descended, police said in a statement. Ryan Lamp, who works at a nearby Casey's convenience store, tells the Lake Geneva Regional News that numerous customers told him the balloon hit a chimney while flying over an industrial building and then hit the moving train. The Burlington Police Department says its investigation will involve state police, the railway company, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the National Traffic Safety Board. (Last year, a balloon crew member in Israel hit a car when he fell 120 feet.)