MORE than a dozen people had a narrow escape from a Virgin hot air balloon which crash landed in Furness.

Stuart Colvin, of Kirkby Stephen, who had been given the trip by his children as a 60th birthday present, described how it hit two trees as it made an emergency landing in Dunnerdale.

“We were all crouched in the basket waiting to land and then we suddenly smashed into a large oak tree.

"Lots of the ladies on board were screaming,” said Mr Colvin. “There were huge branches flying at us. I couldn't see what was going on – it was very frightening.”

The pilot then blasted more air into the balloon to force it to rise again.

“Then we hit another tree, a big pine,” said Mr Colvin.

“We smashed into it again and there were lots of branches flying at us again. It was terrifying, everyone was panicking.”

He said the ballooon eventually landed on Birker Fell where a farmer ran over and exclaimed: ‘I thought you were all goners.’ Mr Colvin added: “I was just grateful to have got off the flight.”

Mr Colvin said one woman was stabbed in the face by a branch and had to be taken Furness General Hospital for treatment.

The balloon was originally supposed to set off from Kentmere but due to the poor weather conditions on Saturday took off from Dunnerdale.

A Virgin Balloon Flights spokesman said they had submitted a Mandatory Occurrence Report to the Civil Aviation Authority and are conducting an internal investigation.

He added: “We are unable to provide any further details at this stage.”