National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Robert Sumwalt talks about power lines, left, during a news conference at the scene of Saturday's hot air balloon crash near Lockhart, Texas, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. The balloon made contact with the wires. Sixteen people were killed in the crash. (Deborah Cannon/Austin American-Statesman via AP) (The Associated Press)
LOCKHART, Texas – The Latest on the hot air balloon crash that killed 16 people in Texas (all times local):
12:20 p.m.
The person who called 911 following a hot air balloon crash that killed 16 people thought it was a vehicle fire in a remote patch of Texas countryside.
The Caldwell County Sheriff's office said Monday that there was only one call placed to 911 following the crash. Federal investigators say the call came a minute after powerlines were tripped at 7:42 a.m. Saturday. Investigators believe the balloon hit the powerline wires, killing everyone onboard.
In a recording of the 911 call, nearby resident Margaret Wylie reports seeing what she thinks is a vehicle fire in a pasture near Lockhart, a city south of Austin. She provides directions to the area to help responding firefighters.
She then adds: "The whole thing is in flames now."
Wylie told The Associated Press on Saturday that, "it was like a fireball going up."
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12 a.m.
Police say the pilot of a hot air balloon that crashed in Texas and killed all 16 people aboard had been arrested in Missouri for driving while intoxicated in 2000.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported in 2008 that the Better Business Bureau there had warned consumers about doing business with Alfred "Skip" Nichols after complaints about his balloon touring company.
Forty-nine-year-old Nichols was identified as the pilot of the Texas balloon by his friend and roommate Alan Lirette, who said that Nichols was a good pilot.
Federal investigators say the balloon hit high-tension power lines before crashing into a pasture early Saturday morning. One witness who lives a quarter-mile from the site reported a fireball going up.
Investigators are focusing on interviewing witnesses, starting Monday with the ground crew.
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