Officials with Albuquerque's International Balloon Fiesta say a balloon hit a power line Wednesday, sending two men to the hospital.
Festival spokesman Tom Garrity says the balloon flew into power lines in Rio Rancho about 9:15 a.m. He says when the passenger reached out to free the gondola, he was electrocuted. The balloon was freed, but the gondola then fell about 40 feet. Garrity says the passenger and the pilot have both been taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital.
Garrity says the men's conditions were not immediately known although officials do know that the passenger suffered burns.
On Saturday, the opening day of the nine-day festival of more than 600 balloons, a 61-one-year-old woman broke her leg during a hard landing.
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