Balloonists' bodies found at sea
Source: Agencies |
December 7, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AN Italian fishing boat yesterday pulled the remains of two American balloonists from the Adriatic Sea, ending a two-month hunt for the pair's bodies in one of ballooning's darkest chapters.
The boat hauled in the balloon gondola with the bodies of the Americans still inside while fishing 17 kilometers north of Vieste before dawn, said Guido Limongelli of the Vieste port. Viete is on Italy's eastern Adriatic coast in the southern Puglia region.
He said documents found in the gondola confirmed the identities of Richard Abruzzo, 47, of Albuquerque, and Carol Rymer Davis, 65, of Denver.
The pair had been participating in the 54th Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon Race when contact was lost on September 29 as they flew over the Adriatic. They had taken off with some 20 other balloons from the English city of Bristol on Septemper 25.
Search crews looked for the veteran balloonists in vain for a week, before determining that their craft had plunged toward the water at 80 kph and they had probably died.
As soon as the fishing boat discovered what was in its nets it alerted port officials in Vieste, who sent out a patrol boat to escort the vessel back to port, Limongelli said.
A coroner is performing an autopsy and officials are investigating to determine what might have caused the balloon to crash.
The boat hauled in the balloon gondola with the bodies of the Americans still inside while fishing 17 kilometers north of Vieste before dawn, said Guido Limongelli of the Vieste port. Viete is on Italy's eastern Adriatic coast in the southern Puglia region.
He said documents found in the gondola confirmed the identities of Richard Abruzzo, 47, of Albuquerque, and Carol Rymer Davis, 65, of Denver.
The pair had been participating in the 54th Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon Race when contact was lost on September 29 as they flew over the Adriatic. They had taken off with some 20 other balloons from the English city of Bristol on Septemper 25.
Search crews looked for the veteran balloonists in vain for a week, before determining that their craft had plunged toward the water at 80 kph and they had probably died.
As soon as the fishing boat discovered what was in its nets it alerted port officials in Vieste, who sent out a patrol boat to escort the vessel back to port, Limongelli said.
A coroner is performing an autopsy and officials are investigating to determine what might have caused the balloon to crash.
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