At least nine injured in a hot air balloon crash on the edge of the Alps in Austria

The accident to the hot air balloon happened in the Bucklige Welt region known for its hilly landscape. Its location is about 53 miles south of the capital Vienna. Nine people suffered injuries after a hot air balloon crashed on the eastern edge of the Alps in Austria. Emergency services rushed to the scene of the accident. Initial reports mention about serious injuries to two of the passengers. The injured people scattered in different locations. Two were in the rural town of Untereck and five others with minor injuries were about three miles away near Stang. Moreover, a couple of seriously hurt people were airlifted by helicopter to local hospitals. The cause of the crash remains unclear but according to an Austria newspaper, the crash happened as the balloon was about to land on a meadow. Hot air balloon crash in the Austrian Alps leaves nine hurt. It seems the balloon descended at a fast rate and bounced off the ground. That knocked four people including the pilot and co-pilot out of the basket. The momentum dragged four of them along for a distance before the aircraft took off again with the five remaining passengers.

While in the air, the pilot apparently instructed the passengers by phone on how to make an emergency landing by phone. The balloon finally halted in a forest. Incidentally, there have been earlier instances of accidents to hot air balloons. In June last year, five people died after a gust of wind blew the hot air balloon into a power line. This happened in New Mexico, US. The pilot and three passengers were declared dead at the scene of the tragedy and the fifth person died after being rushed to hospital with serious injuries. Later, in July 2020 there was an accident in Germany. It happened in the city of Wesel, 35 miles north of Dusseldorf when a plane collided with the balloon which crashed into an apartment block.

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Desperate migrants set to walk 240-Km from Budapest Railway station to Vienna

Migrants from Syria and other countries who have been stuck at a Budapest railway station for days have now decided to walk to Austria in view of non-availability of trains. The Hungarian authorities are trying to prevent them but they are desperate to reach Western Europe.
This has been reported in bbc.com dated 4 September 2015.
In the meantime, the EU states are trying to evolve a common strategy to deal with the crisis as the head of the UN refugee agency wants EU nations to mobilize "full force" and accept up to 200,000 refugees.

It is a real chaotic scene in Hungary which is a main transit country for migrants who are seeking to claim asylum in Germany and other countries in north and west Europe. Many of the migrants who had been waiting for days at Budapest's Keleti station have left and plan to walk to Vienna, in the absence of trains, a journey of 240-Km.
The stand-off between police and passengers on a train held at Bicske station continues. Those who have boarded the train do not want to go to a transit camp. Riot police have reportedly entered the station. A large group of migrants are believed to have escaped from the train.
Moreover, hundreds of people have escaped from a refugee camp at Roszke near the Serbian border. They are being pursued by police while thousands more are still inside and are threatening to break out too.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Travel trends 2015 - British tourists opting out of beach holidays in 2015

#beachholidays #ABTA #BritishTourists #packagetours As 2014 enters its final hours, the word is going around that in 2015, the British are gradually opting out of beach holidays and plan to go to Austria, Botswana and Cuba – these destinations appear to be new trends in the tourist maps. A research carried out by British travel association ABTA has shown that in 2015, nearly 43 per cent of people are planning a city break while 42 per cent are planning a beach holiday. Moreover, there appears to be a growing trend for the desire to live like a local in search of ‘more authentic’ experiences. Hence, holiday companies are modifying their strategies and offering people the chance to enjoy hidden gems alongside traditional tourist attractions. The report of ABTA has also listed 12 destinations that are expected to emerge in 2015 and Austria is at the top of the list, then comes Botswana, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Japan. It seems over 35 percent of British holidaymakers nurse a desire to travel to a new country in 2015, a country that they have never visited earlier. The tourism boom is expected in Cuba following the decision of the US to lift restrictions on travel and trade. The survey was carried out among 2,001 Britons, and 20 per cent of respondents said they would spend more on trips next year compared to 15 per cent who will spend less. Some of the reasons for this growth is that more affluent holidaymakers are taking more holidays, package trips and a desire to maximize leisure time by combining travel with adventure or activity holidays or events.