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Who were the victims of Arizona hot air balloon crash? Read the heartbreaking final text one of them sent his girlfriend
Four people were killed and one was critically injured after a hot air balloon crash-landed in the southern Arizona desert on Sunday, January 14
Four people were killed and one was critically injured after ahot air balloon crash-landed in the southern Arizona desert on Sunday, January 14. Those who died have now been identified asChayton Wiescholek, 28, of Union City, Michigan; Kaitlynn Bartrom, 28, of Andrews, Indiana; Atahan Kiliccote, 24, of Cupertino, California; and pilot Cornelius Van Der Walt, 37, of Eloy and originally from Namibia. Valerie Stutterheim, 23, of Scottsdale, remains in the hospital.
The balloon was carrying 13 people in total – eight skydivers, four passengers and a pilot. It has been reported that as many as eight skydivers leaped from the aircraft before the crash. While one person died at the scene, the others died in the hospital.
What message did Chayton Wiescholek’s girlfriend receive?
Wiescholek’s girlfriend, Kinsey Taylor, was one of the skydivers who jumped and saved themselves. Wiescholek’s parents have now revealed that Taylor realised what had happened only after she found a heartbreaking message from her boyfriend after landing safely. “She looked at her phone and had a message from my son. It said, ‘I love you.’ He knew he was going to die,” mom Rhonda Wiescholek told Fox 17.
“Chayton texted Kinsey on the way down and said that this ain’t gonna be good, ‘I love you, goodbye,’ and signed off. So his last thoughts were with his girlfriend,” Wiescholek’s dad, Gary, said.
Taylor immediately tried to contact Wiescholek. “Somebody else answered his phone and said, ‘This is not good, you need to be here now,” Gary said. Wiescholek had recently told his parents that he wanted to marry Taylor.
“She shedded her parachute harness and she ran two miles to get to him and officials wouldn’t let her near him,” Gary added.
Rhonda flew to Arizona after she learned about the accident. “I’m staying here until I can take my son home. I am not leaving without him,” she told Arizona’s Family.
Wiescholek and Taylor lived with Rhonda and their cats in Union City, Michigan. At the time of the tragedy, they were vacationing in Arizona.
“There’s not a whole bunch more you can say. You’re just broken," Rhonda said. “He was just up in the balloon to be with her and all the skydivers had jumped out of the balloon and then something went wrong and we still don’t know what.” AGoFundMe has been launched for Wiescholek.
The exact cause of the crash is unknown. However, the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the incident, said that as per preliminary information, it happened after the balloon had an “unspecified problem with its envelope.”
