Giant sky lantern catches fire, disintegrates after collision

New Taipei, Feb. 18 (CNA) A giant sky lantern burst into flames and slowly fell to the ground after colliding with another lantern during the first release of lanterns during the 2024 Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival in New Taipei on Saturday evening.

No injuries or damage to property was reported as a result of the lantern's fall to the ground.

The lantern that went up in flames was one of four giant lanterns that were the centerpieces of the first night of lantern releases during this year's New Taipei lantern festival held in the city's Pingxi District, with the main event scheduled for Feb. 24.

The four lanterns were engineered in the shapes of an East Asian dragon, a tiger, and a globe, with the fourth one representing Taiwan.

Due to the sheer size of the four lanterns and the large number of regular lanterns that were released into the air at the same time, the globe lantern went astray after gaining some altitude and started to spin before bumping into the more reinforced dragon lantern.

The collision and shift in the globe lantern's position caused the flames powering it into the air to light up the rest of the lantern as it continued to rise.

A change in the wind direction then caused all four giant lanterns to fly in awkward positions and stray from their projected paths, with the sturdier dragon lantern flying into the burning globe and the lantern representing Taiwan.

While the Taiwan lantern self-corrected its position and continued to fly, the globe lantern burst into flames before slowly falling to the ground.

Asked on Sunday about the lantern catching fire, New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) sidestepped the question, pointing instead to the positive symbolism of the four lanterns.

The Chinese characters for the four lanterns pronounced in Taiwanese meant that "All is well in Taiwan and the world," Hou said, and he also praised the release of the four giant lanterns into the air together as a milestone for the city.

At the main Pingxi sky lantern festival on Feb. 24, three giant lanterns will be set off along with thousands of smaller lanterns, with people writing their wishes for the new Year of the Dragon on them.