A hot-air balloon crash Saturday in Texas that killed 16 people served as a reminder of a June 25,1994, crash during the Swedish Days festival in Geneva that left the pilot and two passengers seriously injured.

The balloon slammed into 12,000-volt power lines and caught fire when the pilot attempted to land in a field near St. Charles and Morton roads in West Chicago.

Geneva residents Robert Langeness and Donald Swanson sued the Geneva Chamber of Commerce, the balloon festival organizer, balloon pilot David James and the balloon manufacturer,

James told the jury at a trial in 1998 that he had to abort his first attempt at a landing because the field he had targeted turned out to be a cornfield and he didn’t want to damage the crops.

He climbed to just under 100 feet to clear the trees that separated the cornfield from St. Charles Road, intending to set down in an adjacent field of scrub brush. But as he crested the trees, a gust of wind caused the balloon to plummet at least 50 feet into the power lines, he said.

The lines ignited the gondola and James, Langeness and Swanson jumped, falling more than 30 feet.

Swanson and Langeness suffered broken bones and serious internal injuries. Swanson said his left foot was crushed, his left leg broken as was a vertebra, which damaged his spinal cord.

The jury awarded the two men $5.5 million, but they agreed to settle for whatever insurance money was available rather than push the Geneva Chamber into financial ruin.

The chamber had a $2 million policy on Swedish Days and pilot David James had $100,000 in insurance coverage.

The decision cost them about $3.4 million. But the men said they felt it was the right thing to do.

“We’re nice people. They’re nice people. This is Geneva,” Swanson said at the time.