Post date: Dec 06, 2010 6:56:41 PM
The bodies of two U.S. hot-air balloonists are found in southern Italy. Deborah Lutterbeck reports.
ITALY-BALLOONIST RECOVERY - Scenes from happier times. American balloonists Richard Abruzzo and Carol Rymer-Davis take off for a balloon race in late September in Bristol England.
Now their bodies have been found off Italy's eastern coast.
The remains were found after their balloon became entangled in a fishing net cast by a boat off the coast of Puglia, says Italian Coastguard Lieutenant Guido Limongelli.
Italian Coastguard Lieutenant Guido Limongelli, saying :"One of the bodies was found in the basket and the other was found wrapped up in the [fishing] net."
Coastguard officials searched for days when the balloonists went missing. There were thunderstorms in the area when the last signal was heard from the balloon's tracking device, which emits a signal to give its position every 15 minutes.
The event, the so-called Coupe Aeronautique Gordon Bennett race featured 20 teams from several countries and began September 25 in Bristol, England. The team that flies the longest distance from the launch site wins.
Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters.