Boy Originally Thought To Be Floating In Balloon Found Safe At Home

A boy originally believed to be trapped in a homemade balloon that soared above Colorado Thursday was found safely at home after a lengthy search.

The drama began when the six-year-old’s brother said the boy was inside the homemade, experimental balloon when he detached the cable that anchored it to the ground.

When the balloon landed more than an hour later without the boy inside, the search was launched, though he was ultimately found hiding in a box, in the attic, unharmed.

The experimental aircraft was the work of retired weatherman Richard Heene and landed in a field shortly before 4pm. It’s still not clear why the boy in question – Falcon – decided to hide.

The U.S. National Guard had deployed helicopters to monitor the balloon’s progress but could not figure out how to safely land it.

The contraption reached as high as two kilometres and was clocked at speeds of 40 kilometres per hour.

Richard, his wife, Mayumi, and their three sons appeared on the 100th episode of the reality television show, Wife Swap.

The ABC website describes them as a “storm-chasing, science-obsessed” family.

“When the Heene family aren’t chasing storms, they devote their time to scientific experiments that include looking for extraterrestrials and building a research-gathering flying saucer to send into the eye of the storm,” it reads.

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