A Lake Illawarra woman is among the survivors of a fatal air balloon crash in Egypt.
The balloon's pilot lost control in high winds near the southern Egyptian city of Luxor after taking off around sunrise on Friday. The crash claimed the life of a South African man.
Vanessa Condran, 31, was among those aboard.
In a post to social media she reported: "I am alright - a few bumps and bruises. And probably will never set foot in another hot air balloon ever again. I feel lucky to have walked out of this traumatic experience, a scary freak accident."
Ms Condran is in the midst of a four-week solo overseas adventure. She is travelling in Egypt as part of a tour group.
Her grandmother, Warilla's Marie Condran, said she had telephoned her mother in the immediate aftermath of the crash.
"She's one of the ones that wasn't knocked out and unconscious," Mrs Condran told Fairfax Media.
"She said she was OK, but had some [pain] with her neck and something with her finger from where she was hanging onto the rope. She was hanging onto some other girl who was hysterical.
"There were people hurt everywhere."
A former volunteer with Warilla Barrack Point Surf Life Saving Club, Ms Condran used her first aid skills, trying in vain to help the most seriously injured passenger, Mrs Condran said.
"It was 10 or 15 minutes before anybody got there to help."
"She got him in the recovery position. She had him on his side and tried to help him but she knew he wasn't very good."
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed a number of Australians were involved in the crash.
The balloon took off around sunrise and flew about 45 minutes at an altitude of 450 metres before the pilot lost control over a mountainous area, officials said, adding that the pilot was also injured.
An Argentinian and two French tourists were being treated in hospital, a health ministry spokesman said. Health officials and state media had earlier said a woman died.
A number of other tourists were also taken to Luxor International Hospital but released after a few hours, the ministry said.
The public prosecutor in the southern Egyptian city of Luxor ordered the detention of four men pending an investigation into the hot air balloon crash, state news agency MENA said on Saturday.
State media blamed Friday's crash, near Luxor, on poor weather conditions.
MENA did not say if charges had been brought against the four men, who include the pilot. Judicial sources said an initial investigation suggested that negligence could have contributed to the crash.
With Reuters, AAP
