The hot air balloon caught fire in New Zealand. Pic: Geoff Walker
Graphic photographs showing the moments that a hot air balloon caught fire and then plummeted to the ground have been released.
The four images were submitted as evidence to an inquest into the New Zealand tragedy in which 11 people died in January 2012.
A coroner has allowed them to be released to the media after it was argued that showing the pictures was in the public interest.
News organisations and most of the families of the victims had wanted the images of the flight, including one of the balloon hitting power lines, to be published.
The balloon hit power lines during the flight. Pic: Geoff Walker
But the photographer who took them, Geoff Walker, opposed their release because he owned the copyright and feared they would become public property outside his control.
Mr Walker, who took hundreds of photos of the flight which were given to police as evidence, dropped an appeal, saying the decision was likely to have ended up back with the coroner.
The pictures show the basket in flames and then the balloon itself catching fire.
Most of the victims' families wanted the photos released. Pic: Geoff Walker
The tragedy in Carterton was one of the country's worst air disasters.
Allan and Vivienne Still, parents of Alexis Still, who died in the tragedy, had earlier told One News the public needed to see the photos.
People planning to travel on balloons had the right to see the images as part of making an informed decision about safety, they said.
The cause of the disaster is under investigation by the coroner Peter Ryan.
In 2013, investigators said the pilot of the balloon, 53-year-old Lance Hopping, had probably smoked marijuana before the flight.
The balloon is pictured plummeting to the ground. Pic: Geoff Walker
The balloon took off at 6.40am in good weather, but Hopping, they concluded, had made several errors of judgement.
They included letting it get too low during the flight, applying the burners when he got near power lines in an attempt to rise above them and not descending fast enough when he was about to strike the lines.
The balloon basket became entangled in the lines and exploded into flames, their report found.
The heat then caused the balloon to break free of the wires and rapidly ascend, before crashing into the ground.
Two of the passengers who jumped out when the balloon was about about 20 metres (66ft) up died in the fall.
Hopping and the remaining passengers were killed when the balloon crashed to the ground.
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