TURKEY’S state news agency says 49 people, mostly foreign tourists including Chinese, were hurt when three hot air balloons made hard landings in strong winds in central Turkey.

    The Dogan news agency said the balloons were carrying mostly European and Chinese tourists for rides over Turkey’s Cappadocia region yesterday when the winds suddenly picked up and forced some of the balloons to make emergency landings.

    Nine of those hurt were being treated for fractured bones while the rest had minor injuries and were quickly released from hospitals, the private Dogan news agency reported. It was not known by press time how many Chinese tourists were injured.

    Cappadocia, in central Anatolia, is famed for its “fairy chimney” volcanic cones, subterranean cities carved out of soft stone, and early Christian churches.

    Ballooning has become a popular tourist business in the region over the past decade.

    Last month, a Danish tourist was killed in Cappadocia when a hot air balloon made a similar hard landing.

    A Chinese tourist was killed and nine others injured in a hot air balloon crash in the region on Dec. 17, 2014.

    Three Brazilian tourists were killed when two balloons collided in Cappadocia in 2013.

    In 2009 a balloon crash in the same region killed a British tourist and injured nine other people.

    (SD-Agencies)