DENVER, (Reuters) – A 6-year-old boy who set off a massive search and rescue operation and media frenzy when it was feared he was inside a homemade helium balloon that broke loose and drifted for hours, thousands of feet above Colorado, was found safe yesterday.
Falcon Heene was discovered hiding in a box in the attic above his family’s garage, hours after the odd silver contraption had deflated and landed softly in a dirt field, Larimer County Sheriff James Alderden said.
“Apparently, he’s been there the whole time, hiding in a box, a cardboard box, in an attic above the garage,” Alderden told reporters after a long and frantic day.
Falcon’s older brother had reported seeing him climb inside a compartment attached to the balloon, which was built by his amateur scientist father and resembled a “flying saucer” spacecraft, before it floated away from the family’s home in Fort Collins, Colorado.
The story was quickly picked up by U.S. cable networks, which broadcast live footage of the small Mylar airship for two hours as it soared some 50 miles (80 km) east across Colorado, trailed by U.S. National Guard helicopters.
