VIDEO: 100 people were in Northamptonshire field where air balloon crashed

They were attending a car boot sale in Northampton Road, Earls Barton - opposite Whites Nurseries - at 7.30am when the aircraft came down suddenly in the field where they were. Witnesses estimated the balloon descended rapidly from about 200ft and caught fire.

Witnesses told the Chron that the balloon, which took off with others from the Obelisk Centre in Kingsthorpe, may have struck a pylon.

Hayden James said: “I think it hit a pylon because it shot up in the air.

“It looked like the pilot then tried to put some more hot air in but it suddenly caught fire.

“It went down pretty quickly after that.”

Others told the Chron that smoke was billowing from the canopy just after it seemed to strike the pylon, at which point there was a “bang and a flash”.

Police said there were two people on board a male pilot, aged 64, and a 22-year-old woman passenger.

The woman was airlifted to hospital with burns injuries by what is believed to have been an air ambulance used by the Magpas charity.

Emergency services were initially called to the field - known locally as the Rally Field, adjacent to the B573 - at about 7.30am.

Police said the woman was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, which specialises in burns injuries.

The investigation has now been handed over to the Air Accident Investigation Bureau.