“It does not appear at this time that there were any survivors of the crash,” the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement posted on Facebook.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford told the Associated Press that the balloon was found in an isolated pasture near Lockhart, Texas, about 7:40 a.m.
Lockhart, a popular weekend getaway known for its barbecue, is about 30 miles south of Austin.
Authorities initially responded to a call about a possible vehicle accident, but upon arrival, “it was apparent that the reported fire was the basket portion of a hot air balloon,” the sheriff’s office statement noted.
Eric Weiss, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, told the AP that his agency knows “very, very little right now” about how the crash occurred.
Though isolated, the crash site is below “a row of massive high-capacity transmission lines about 4 to 5 stories tall,” but authorities have not commented on whether the overhead lines played a role in the disaster, the AP reported.