A hot air balloon landed heavily after hitting a tree north of Sydney on Friday, injuring 16 people, officials said.
The balloon was carrying a pilot and 24 passengers when it landed in a field in Hunter Valley after hitting the tree, Professional Ballooning Association of Australia spokesman Damian Crock said.
Photo via flickr
The Health Department said 16 passengers were treated at a hospital and at least 12 had been discharged late Friday.
Their injuries included suspected spinal damage and broken bones. None of the injuries was life-threatening, an ambulance official said.
Photo via flickr
Television reports showed branches strewn on the ground from a eucalyptus tree the balloon stuck and foliage still clinging to its basket after landing.
The circumstances of the landing will be examined by government crash investigators, Crock said.
The balloon's operator, Balloon Safaris, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Friday.
In January, four passengers were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries when a Balloon Safaris hot air balloon made a heavy landing in Hunter Valley.
SYDNEY (AP) — Detectives and secret service agents investigating the stabbing of a bishop in a Sydney church executed search warrants in the city on Wednesday as part of a major operation, officials said.
The Joint Counter-Terrorism Team, which includes federal and state police as well as the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the nation’s main domestic spy agency, said in a statement there is no current threat to public safety.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said the operation was related to a knife attack in a Sydney church on April 15 in which an Assyrian Orthodox bishop and priest were injured.
“There is a major operation underway in Sydney,” Kershaw told the National Press Club of Australia.
“We have to make unfortunately lawful interventions to prevent any further planning or attack on our communities,” Kershaw added.
A 16-year-old boy accused of stabbing the two clerics was charged on Friday with committing a terrorist act, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
An Australian Federal Court judge on Wednesday extended an order banning social media platform X from showing videos of the bishop being repeatedly stabbed.
Justice Geoffrey Kennett extended the ban, which the court put in place on Monday, until May 10.
X, formerly called Twitter, announced last week it would fight in court Australian orders to take down posts relating to the attack.
Australia’s eSafety Commission, which describes itself as the world’s first government agency dedicated to keeping people safer online, applied to the court for the temporary global ban.
The teen allegedly spoke in Arabic about the Prophet Muhammad being insulted after he stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and the Rev. Isaac Royel in the Christ the Good Shepherd Church as a service was being streamed online.
Police said more details on Wednesday’s operation would be released later in the day. They have not said how many warrants had been executed or where in Sydney had been searched.
ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess confirmed that his organization was involved in Wednesday’s operation.
“Australia’s security service is always doing its thing to provide security intelligence that enables the police to deal with these problems when we have immediate threats to life or anything else that’s evolving,” Burgess told the Press Club.
He said investigations of children had peaked at 50% of ASIO’s “priority counterterrorism case load” a few years ago and the number had since reduced.
But the number of minors under investigation was rising again for reasons including social media content, Burgess said.
“They’re a vulnerable cohort,” Burgess said.
FILE - Flores sit on a fence outside the Christ the Good Shepherd church in suburban Wakely in western Sydney, Australia, on April 16, 2024. Detectives and secret service agents investigating the stabbing of a bishop in the Sydney church last week executed search warrants in the city on Wednesday, April 24, as part of a major operation, officials said. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, File)
