Mum and daughter's haunting smiles on hot air balloon moments before deadly crash

Harrowing footage has captured the moment tourists were enjoying themselves on a hot air balloon before it plummeted to the ground with passengers onboard. Emergency services including a helicopter raced to the freak accident which is said to have happened in Dubai on March 23.

In the clip, a mother and daughter could be seen smiling before the balloon plunged to the ground, with guests reportedly left "unconscious". Altogether, 12 passengers including two Russian women were said to be onboard when the balloon “tilted too much to the side and fell sharply”. The tourists were thought to be 40 minutes into the ride above the scenic desert when chaos erupted. According to the mum and daughter, two foreign tourists died in the crash. Medics flew the other injured holidaygoers to hospital following the incident.

The footage catches the moment when the flight goes wrong, and some of the disturbing aftermath. In the video, the basket hit the ground and then continued to drag against the floor. According to Russian media, "The Russian women miraculously survived - [but the] man sitting between them died."

Another report wrote: “During the fall, some passengers fell out of the basket, and after the impact at high speed, the basket itself rolled and hit the surface several more times." Some tourists “were hit hard during landing and were covered by the canopy", it concluded.

In one video, several people could be heard repeatedly screaming: “Papa, papa, papa…..” One young voice said: “Papa, are you Okay…? Later on, someone added: “He’s died.”

There is no independent confirmation of the details of the incident. It also remains unclear on what caused the incident. The medical costs of the tourists were met by the balloon tour operator, it was reported.