U.S. balloonists fall into sea, likely killed

BARI, Italy (AP) — Two missing American balloonists were plunging toward the Adriatic Sea at 50 mph when they dropped off air traffic control radar, a sign that they crashed and almost certainly were killed, organizers of the race they were competing in said Friday.

Flight director Don Cameron said that high rate of descent, if confirmed, leads him to be “very pessimistic” about the fate of veteran pilots Richard Abruzzo and Carol Rymer Davis.

The “only shred of hope” is that the readings from air traffic control in Zagreb, Croatia, were from the outer limits of its radar zone and might be incorrect, Cameron said. He added that he expects to confirm the data with Italian air traffic controllers in Brindisi, on the other side of the Adriatic, today.

Abruzzo, 47, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Davis, 65, of Denver, Colorado, were participating in the 54th Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon Race when contact was lost Wednesday morning in rough weather over the Adriatic.

Race organizers said the balloon “appears to have suffered a sudden and unexpected failure.”

Cameron said he received information Friday from Zagreb indicating the balloon was at 5,300 feet and descended slowly at first but then at a rate of 50 mph until 600 feet.

“At this rate of descent to the surface, survival would be unlikely,” race organizers said in a statement.