Balloon disaster

A HOT air balloon caught fire and crashed to the ground near the English city of Worcester on Sunday, June 25.

As a result, its occupant was killed instantly in the balloon’s impact with the ground. The incident occurred at around 6.20am near the town of Ombersley, some six miles north of Worcester. Emergency crews were immediately deployed to the location. There was nothing they could do to save the man’s life and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

“We went out to an incident involving a hot air balloon in Ombersley on the Holt Fleet Road. We had a call at 6.23am, crews from Worcester, Droitwich, Wyre Forest, Evesham and Bromsgrove. We have left the scene now, but we have left it to the police,” said a spokesperson for Here ­ ford and Worcestershire Fire Service, as reported by a news source.

The inaugural Worcester Balloon Festival was held over the weekend and finished on Saturday June 24. The incident happened not far from the city’s racecourse that was used to host the event but it is not believed to be connected in any way.

A witness told the news outlet: “There were lots of balloons in the sky because it was clear and sunny despite being so early. Suddenly there was a flash and what looked like a fireball coming from a blue balloon and it just dropped like a stone. My wife heard terrible screaming and then silence.”

Denmark

Too soon

A SURVEY for Danish cancer charity Kræftens Bekæmpelse found that approximately 30,000 people aged between 15 and 24 needed emergency hospital treatment over the last year after drinking alcohol. The charity said the figures were “shocking” and called for the minimum age for buying alcohol to be raised from 16.

Cry wolf

TWENTY-NINE wolves currently live in Denmark, and the number is believed to be growing. Aarhus University’s Environment and Energy department has issued guidelines on how to react on encountering wolves in the wild while taking care not to disturb their natural habitats or accustom the animals to humans.

The Netherlands

Ancient site

DUTCH archaeologists discovered a 4,000year-old burial site which was also a solar calendar on industrial land in Tiel. A burial mound with the remains of approximately 60 men, women and children, contained several passages where the sun would have shone directly on the longest and shortest days of the year.

Mother tongue

FOREIGN students will soon need to be able to speak Dutch, announced Education Minister Robbert Dijkgraafand, who is under pressure to tackle the dominance of English as a teaching medium. Most bachelor degree courses will require two-thirds of their content to be offered in Dutch, he told a parliamentary committee.

Belgium

Equal footing

BELGIUM was ranked 10th in the world for gender equality by the World Economic Forum’s 2023 Gender Gap Report, moving up four places since last year. Iceland remained at the top of the list, followed by Norway and Finland. Algeria, Chad and Afghanistan occupied the last three places.

War footing

BELGIUM officially joined the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) programme as an observer. Bringing Brussels onto the team would not change the current contracts signed between France, Germany and Spain, officials said, but would accelerate the operational partnership between the four nations’ air force.