30 Sep 2010

Race balloonists missing in storms

4:01 pm on 30 September 2010

Two American balloonists taking part in the Gordon Bennett Cup race are missing in thunderstorms over the Adriatic.

The Italian coastguard said boats would continue to search for them through the night but aircraft would have to stop at 7pm (BST) when it got dark.

The missing hydrogen balloon, piloted by Richard Abruzzo and Carol Rymer Davis, is one of three US entries.

Race control in Bristol said contact had been lost with them.

The Italian Coastguard, said the last contact with the pair was at 8am local time (0700 BST) on Wednesday.

It said the pilots reported bad weather conditions and a search was being held at sea 13 miles off Cap Gargano in the Puglia area.

Three boats, two helicopters and two aircraft were involved.

Race control, said the last satellite tracker report from the missing balloon - USA2 - was at 0658 BST.

Croatian authorities and all shipping had been informed.

Race began on Saturday night

The balloons took off from a launch site north of Bristol on Saturday night.

The winning team is the one to travel the furthest. At first light on Wednesday only three teams of the 20 that started, including the Americans, were still flying

.

By 1140 BST all other competitors had landed.

A Swiss team - SWI2 - landed near Constanta, Romania, in first place, having travelled 2,435.08km.

A German balloon landed in second place, in Moldova, having travelled 2,313.40km.