A hot air balloon ‘landed’ two foreign tourists in Ajmer jail on Tuesday and left jail authorities in a tizzy. The two women from West Indies had set sail along with an operator from Pushkar when the latter lost control of the hot air balloon due to strong winds and were directed towards neighbouring Ajmer jail. The roll call of inmates had just got over when the hot air balloon descended on the jail premises taking the authorities by surprise. The tourists, both journalists on a tour of the ongoing annual Pushkar Fair, and the operator landed on the football field of the jail and were detained by the authorities for interrogation. They told the authorities that they wanted to take pictures of a bird’s eye view of the fair and so had chosen to sail on the hot air balloon. Both of them are siblings in their early 20s. Officials said that they were alarmed as the incident amounted to a security lapse. A probe has been ordered and license to run the hot air balloons has been suspended. The hot air balloons were a big attraction this year at the Pushkar Fair but have now been grounded. Sub inspector, Civil Lines police station Hanuman Vishnoi said, “When the operator saw that they were sailing over the Anasagar Lake, he got alarmed and tried to control the movement of the balloon. The nearest landing was the police lines and even though he steered towards it, the strong winds made the balloon sway further up to the Ajmer jail.” The tourists told locals that they were treated well by the jail authorities during the interrogation but were so taken aback by the experience that they stuck to camel and elephant rides on Wednesday. Officials said that a total of three hot air balloons had lost control on Tuesday and gone astray. The other two were recovered near Vaishali Nagar and Topdara areas in Ajmer that is 20 kms away from Pushkar.
