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6-year-old missing after balloon lands in Colorado
•NEW: Boy may have fallen out because door on balloon was unlocked
•Officials were chasing homemade aircraft over eastern Colorado
•Boy’s family was building aircraft at home in Fort Collins
updated 1 minute agoNext Article in U.S. »
(CNN) — A runaway balloon has touched down in Colorado after a 6-year-old boy untied it from his family home in Fort Collins.
The dome-shaped balloon is 20 feet long and 5 feet high, Larimer County Sheriff’s Office says.
The boy was not inside the helium aircraft when it landed, CNN affiliate KMGH reported.
A sibling saw the boy get into the craft Thursday morning. Officials were concerned that the boy may have fallen out of it, an undersheriff said.
Margie Martinez of the Weld County Sheriff’s Office said a sibling saw Falcon Heene climb into the basket before the balloon took off from his parents’ Fort Collins, Colorado home.
Since the door on the balloon was unlocked, it’s possible the boy had fallen out, Martinez said.
The balloon appeared to be a saucer-shaped, Mylar-coated helium balloon, similar to a party balloon. The craft was drifting eastward, authorities said. Read more.
