Luxor public prosecutors released on Wednesday the pilot of the hot air balloon that crashed in January in Luxor along with three officials of the company owning the balloon on a LE5,000 bail.
The balloon had crashed while preparing for landing near the new desert road on the Western Bank in Luxor, leaving one tourist dead and injuring seven others.
Investigations revealed that the balloon was carrying 21 people, and was subjected to an air vortex that caused it to fall.
In 2013, Egypt witnessed one of the deadliest balloon crashes when a balloon flying over Luxor caught fire and plunged about 305 meter to the ground, crashing into a sugar cane field killing at least 19 foreign tourists.
Egypt has been battling to revive the badly-affected tourism sector after years of political turmoil, that followed the 25 January uprising in 2011. This was exacerbated by the 2015 Russian plane crash, which killed all 224 passengers and crew on board, most of them Russian tourists.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
