At least eight people have died after a hot-air balloon carrying more than 20 people caught fire and plunged through the sky in Brazil’s deep south.

Footage posted on social media showed the moment the multi-coloured aircraft fell to earth, engulfed in flames, in the state of Santa Catarina on Saturday morning. At least two of the balloon’s occupants can be seen plummeting to the ground as the fire spreads. “My God!” one witness can be heard gasping as the basket hurtles towards the ground.

The picturesque, canyon-filled region where the crash took place – 170 miles from the state capital, Florianópolis - is a major tourist destination known as the “Brazilian Cappadocia” after the region of Turkey where spectacular hot-air balloon trips are also popular.

Santa Catarina’s governor, Jorginho Mello, expressed “consternation” over the incident, which happened near the town of Praia Grande, and said rescue workers had been sent to the scene. “[There were] 21 people on board – eight fatalities, 13 survivors,” Mello wrote on X. Other reports said the balloon had been carrying 22 people.

A local newspaper, Jornal Razão, said the incident happened at about 7am local time, as about 30 balloons took to the air over Praia Grande, nicknamed the state’s “Canyon Capital”.

“When the balloon started to catch fire, people hurled themselves out,” one witness told the newspaper. “They were trying to escape the flames.”

“It was a desperate scene,” another witness was quoted as saying. “We [saw] some them throwing themselves out [of the balloon] and others trapped in the fire.”

“The atmosphere in the area of the tragedy is one of utter disaster,” one of the paper’s reporters wrote in their dispatch from the crash site.

Jornal Razão said the balloon’s pilot – who was reportedly among the survivors – told officials that the fire had been started by a reserve torch that was inside the balloon’s basket.

“When he noticed the fire, the pilot tried to descend quickly with the balloon. When the aerostat was close to the ground, he ordered the passengers to jump. Some managed to jump out and survived with injuries. Others, however, didn’t get out in time,” the pilot said, according to the newspaper.