A number of Britons are among 19 tourists killed in a hot air balloon crash near the Egyptian city of Luxor today.
The balloon is believed to have caught fire and exploded, before plunging into a sugar cane field west of Luxor, which is 320 miles (510km) south of the capital Cairo.
The casualties are believed to include British and French tourists, as well as other nationalities, said a security official in the country.
A Foreign Office spokesman: "We are aware of the reports and we are making urgent inquiries with the authorities in Egypt."
An AP reporter at the crash site said he saw eight bodies being put into body bags and taken away.
According to one report one tourist and the balloon pilot survived the accident, which happened after a gas explosion at an altitude of 1,000ft.
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article