A spokeswoman for the hot air balloon company Adventure Balloons said it was a “fast landing” and took out some fences.

The pilot wasn’t familiar with the area, she said, and so wasn’t aware of where fences would be.

She said everyone on board was fine.

Police said they were notified of “a hot air balloon crash” just after 8.30am.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand responded with crews from Wānaka and Luggate after reports of a hot air balloon having a “rough landing”.

They helped all of the passengers get out of the balloon, and St John staff were assessing them.

There was no concern about flames outside of the balloon, Fire and Emergency said.

Civil Aviation Authority deputy chief executive Dean Winter said it was aware of the incident and will be conducting inquiries to establish what happened.

Winter said the operator holds a certificate for adventure aviation. This requires them to have an operational competency assessment (OCA) programme, and for a pilot-in-command to have completed an OCA within the past 12 months.

“We are unable to release details of the pilot at this time, for privacy reasons.”