A hot air balloon carrying at least 16 people has caught fire and crashed in central Texas, officials said.

It is unclear whether there are injuries or deaths.

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Lynn Lunsford with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement that the accident happened about 8.40am local time on Saturday near Lockhart, Texas, when the hot air balloon crashed into a pasture.

Ms Lunsford said that the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are going to the scene to investigate.

Lockhart is about 30 miles south of Austin.

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Eric Weiss said that his agency's investigative team should arrive later on Saturday.

He said the safety agency knows "very, very little right now" about what happened.