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John Martinez spent Saturday morning watching hot air balloons on his lawn on the West Side of Albuquerque and even took a moment to say hello. Soon after, when the force was cut off in his house, he had the feeling that something was wrong.
Martinez arrived here with the sound of a loud “aerobatics” and climbed up to see a balloon “go down quickly. “
“I saw him for a smart seven seconds in loose fall. Was. . . Dude, my center is fine, those people,” he said. My idea was, “I hope you’re not internal to this thing. “
Martinez told his wife to call 911 and jumped into his truck, and soon stood at the scene of a turn of fate where first responders tried to resuscitate five other people near an overturned basket.
“They were giving cpr, doing what they could, but it was clear that they had died, they were gone,” he said of the bodies surrounding the gondola.
The incident appears to be the deadliest balloon twist of fate in the city’s history.
Authorities say a pilot and 4 passengers were killed after their hot air balloon hit the lines of force and crashed Saturday morning at a busy intersection in the midwest.
A former Albuquerque police officer, Martin Martinez, 62, and his wife, Mary Martinez, 59, were pronounced dead at the scene, along with the pilot and some other passengers; a passenger who rushed to the hospital with serious injuries also died. He had not met two of the passengers or the pilot, however, other hot air balloons said pilot Nick Meleski.
“I am deeply saddened to be informed of this terrible tragedy in Albuquerque,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a Twitter post. “My prayers are with those enjoyed by those affected.
Gilbert Gallegos, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department, said the other people who died were in their 40s and 60s and all arrived here from Albuquerque.
At a news conference Saturday afternoon, Mayor Tim Keller described the incident as an “incredible tragedy. “
“The new Mexicans, the people of Burque and their families are suffering deeply,” he said.
The APD said several officials had to be sent home for what they witnessed.
Albuquerque fire spokesman Tom Ruiz said the AFR responded to the turn of fate at Central and Unser around 7 a. m. He said teams discovered a balloon capsule had hit lines of force and fell a hundred feet from the median on Unser, at one point hitting the fire.
“The envelope of the balloon discovered in a separate location south of the incident,” Ruiz said. “The cause of the initial accident is unknown at this time. “
Ruiz said the destination twist is being investigated through the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.
The FAA didn’t have the main points of recording the balloon, but it knew it as Cameron 0-120. The National Transportation Safety Board sent two investigators to the scene who will read about the pilot, the balloon itself and the operating environment, NTSB. said spokesman Peter Knudson.
The immediate consequences of the twist of fate can be felt in a chaotic video posted on social media.
The guy who is filming walks through a parking lot of the CVS pharmacy while loud explosions are heard and the envelope of the balloon floats in the sky with a gondola attached.
“The ball hit the electric post and exploded,” the guy said to catch his breath.
Screams and panic ensperte when a crowd gathers around the corner and you can see the basket, tipping over and partially in the fireplace, with what appear to be lying bodies around. People scream to get a chimney extinguisher and, in a matter of seconds, run in with one and spray the basket as traffic passes.
A video of a moment shows first responders seeking to resurrect the sick by the balloon gondola as the guy who is filming says, “Please god allow them to wake up. “
A few hours later, dozens of neighbors, bystanders and others amassed the crime scene gang network outdoors as press helicopters surrounded them, many other people tested the scene, exchanged stories about what they saw, took photos and videos, or simply sat stunned on the sidewalk.
Several aeronauts and members of the pursuit team piled up around a van, standing, crying and talking to a police chaplain. Police and firefighters piled up around the Median of Unser as MFN crews repaired the line of force cut off over the road.
In the midst of all this, a damaged basket of balloons rested to one side, surrounded by a handful of white sheet bodies.
Close-knit community
Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said when he learned the names of the victims, he identified one of them: Martinez Martinez. Medina said he was running with Martinez, who was a cycling officer at the time Medina came to APD decades ago.
“No matter how big we are, we remain a close-knit network and incidents like this all of us,” Medina said as an officer behind him visibly cried. “There were officials on site that I know (Martinez) worked with during his career. “
He added: “We had to send a number of officials home because they were a little disturbed. It charges them dearly. “
Martinez retired from the APD as a patrol officer and had been a police sergeant for the albuquerque public for more than 16 years. He and his wife have a son who is lately a shipping agent for the APD.
Albuquerque Public Schools Superintendent Scott Elder said Sgt. Martinez “will be remembered for his dedication, courage and lifelong selflessness to the law enforcement profession. “
In a statement, Elder said members of the PSA Police Department “loved, admired and Sergeant Martinez.
Medina said the scene is anything that happens with first responders.
“This tragedy that we’re exposed to and our officials bring it, the firefighters bring it for the rest of their lives,” he said. “And that’s one of the moments that I’m sure, far beyond today, that I’ll think about. “
Remembering a “wonderful” pilot
Members of the balloon chase team visibly excited at the scene stated that they knew the pilot.
“It’s such a tragic loss,” said fellow balloon pilot Buzz Biernacki, his face furrowed with tears.
“I can’t have it happened. “
Savio said you couldn’t locate a bigger human being than Meleski, who was very friendly and played with Savio’s youth but, in heaven, was very “clear in his work” and adapted to any balloon event.
“I used to use it for all my events,” Savio said. Now it’s like my right hand is broken. For all my foreign events, the component of it, for 10, 12 years. It’s a wonderful loss for me. “
Chris Jones, a Texas-based balloon pilot, said Meleski possessed a “wonderful skill set” and had flown thousands of hours. He said he knew Meleski for 12 years and had flown with him countless times in a balloon and had helped Jones in his flying balloons in special ways.
“In terms of skill points and sharing concepts and thoughts. . . it’s surely wonderful,” Jones said. He then added, “I don’t know what happened this morning. . . some things are just inevitable, the game has its risks. . . . I think he probably did the most productive thing in the scenario in which he set out. “
Jones said he got a call Saturday morning indicating that a balloon had crashed and that the main points indicated Meleski. This finding left him “extremely sad” and “incredulous. “
“Our community nearby, we know the ball, we saw the shape, we saw the design, it was a very unique design,” Jones said. “We know who he was. Deep down, we hope it’s not there. . . . However, we know more than that.
He said Meleski was “quite a character” who was dressed in a handkerchief, shorts and hiking boots, a look that “realized his personality. “
“You knew Nick was coming a mile and a part away. You can see it, you can hear it,” Jones said. He’s amazing, he made you smile, he made you need to smile. Just because he liked it, he liked what he did.
Jones said he saw Meleski at a balloon event at Angel Fire last weekend. The two met at an encounter at a convenience store in the city.
“He had to tell me all about his flight that morning and how wonderful Array was. . . How nice everything for him at the time,” Jones said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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