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Two people were killed in a hot-air balloon accident near Al Ain this morning, the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) said.

A French and an Indian national were killed in the crash at 6.45am in the Nahel area, the GCAA said in a statement. Fourteen people were on-board the balloon.

One of the passengers, Christopher Bouwer, 25, of South Africa said that when the passengers arrived for the balloon flight at 4am the pilot was concerned about the wind.

"After about 30 or 40 minutes of waiting the pilot said it was safe to take off," Mr Bouwer said.

"We flew for 30 minutes, and when we came to land, we were told to get in the 'landing stance.'

"We were coming down way too fast.

"There was a huge impact with a sand embankment, and we began tumbling in the basket for about 300 metres. Three people were flung out. Two were dead and one was severely injured.

"Two people were buried in the sand that entered the basket. We had to dig them out.

"We waited two hours for help to arrive," he said.

"It's too early to tell if this was human error or God's will," said Saif al Suwaidi, director general of the GCAA. "I cannot predict the causes; it could be that there was a problem with the balloon, the weather, or pilot error."

He said the investigation into the causes of the crash is entirely the responsibility of the GCAA, with no police involvement, and could not give details on when it would be completed.

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