Balloon Boy in jeopardy

6-year-old Colorado boy floats away in balloon

Comment: hard to believe this will have a good ending! Please pray!

Excerpt:

Margie Martinez of the Weld County Sheriff's Office said a sibling saw the boy climb into the basket before the balloon took off. Since the door on the balloon was unlocked, Martinez said it's possible the boy had fallen out.

The balloon appeared to be a saucer-shaped, Mylar-coated helium balloon, not unlike a party balloon. The craft was drifting eastward, authorities said.

The helium balloon was tethered to the boy's family home in Fort Collins, the Larimer County Sheriff's Department said. The boy got into the craft Thursday morning and undid the rope anchoring it.

The aluminum-covered, dome-shaped balloon is 20 feet long and 5 feet high, the Larimer County Sheriff's Office said.

...

The Federal Aviation Administration is trying to track the aircraft on radar and has notified the Denver International Airport. Shortly after noon (2 p.m. ET), the balloon was sighted two miles south of Evans.

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers estimated the wind would keep the vessel moving at 30 mph. Authorities say the craft is about 7,000 feet above the ground.

Kathy Davis, spokeswoman for the sheriff's department, said a dispatcher received a call Thursday morning, and emergency services personnel were contacted.

Davis said a balloon company had been contacted and several media outlets offered to help track the balloon with their helicopters.
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The family has described the structure as a a dome-shaped "homemade flying saucer," Larimer County Sheriff's Office Spokeswoman Kathy Davis said.

"We're trying to determine the best course of action," Davis said. "This is a first and we'll do what we need to do."

Note to self: Don't make a craft like this and let the kids in it!

More from Denver Post! (graphic above captured from this article)