The three-day Colorado River Crossing Balloon Festival kicked off Friday morning with its annual media day.
Hot air balloons were scheduled to take off at sunrise from the Pacific Avenue Athletic Complex in Yuma, but Friday's launch didn't go as planned.
Caballero de Yuma Derek Egeberg said a sudden gust of wind pushed several balloons toward nearby light poles.
Video shared on social media shows the moment an unoccupied hot air balloon was lifted by the wind and pushed toward a crowd of spectators. People scrambled to get out of the way as the balloon and its basket knocked over chairs.
Egeberg confirmed no injuries were reported and said the rest of the weekend's events are expected to continue as planned.
“Good news, nobody got hurt. Everyone is safe. Again, there are a few balloons that need to get repaired, and the rest of the event is going to go off like clockwork,” said Egeberg.
“We have security operations planning meetings, and we talk about things like this. I would say I am disappointed we didn’t get all the balloons in the air for the media launch, but I am thrilled that everybody did exactly what they needed to do. Ultimately, the safety and security of the event come first,” said Egeberg.
Watch the video here: Video on KAWC Facebook Page
