A sight-seeing hot balloon crashed into a sugar cane field just outside of Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 people, many of them foreign tourists. The balloon had been at 1,000 feet; BBC News reports, "At least two people, including the balloon's pilot, are reported to have jumped out of the balloon before it crashed."

Luxor is a top tourist destination in Egypt, because it includes the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens besides many more tombs and temples. The NY Times reports, "The report said that around 7 a.m. the pilot had been pulling a rope to stabilize the balloon as it landed in a field of sugarcane. Then a gas hose ripped and the fire began. The pilot and the two passengers reportedly leapt from the burning balloon before it soared back up high into the air and burst into flames. State media reported that the dead had been 'cremated' by the explosion."

According to the AP, "Bodies of the dead tourists were scattered across the field around the remnants of the balloon. An Associated Press reporter at the crash site counted eight bodies as they were put into body bags and taken away. The security official said all 18 bodies have been recovered."

The victims were, per the Times, nine Chinese tourists from Hong Kong, "four Japanese, two French, a Hungarian, an Egyptian and a British woman, Egyptian state media reported. The three injured survivors included the Egyptian pilot and the British husband of the British woman who died." The British husband later died of his injuries.

All sightseeing balloon tours in Egypt have been suspended. There have been other balloon crashes, though nothing as severe as this incident. The incident is another blow to Egypt's tourism industry, which has suffered after the 2011 uprising. Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros said tourists, wary of Cairo's political turmoil, would opt to visit Luxor and Aswan, "the last place where tourists were really comfortable in coming. So it comes as very bad news for the country, given the economic situation and Egypt's reliance on tourism."

Here are some videos of tourists enjoying the balloon rides over Luxor: