Balloon boy: 6 year old trapped in helium balloon

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15 October 2009 20:35 GMT / By Stuart Miles

A 6-year-old boy, Falcon Heene, was trapped in a helium balloon on Thursday in a 2-and-a-half-hour long unexpected flight.

Rescue services in Colorado, near Fort Collins in the US, tracked the home-made UFO in an attempt to save a 6-year-old who was trapped inside. The "home built UFO", made a by father and son team took off unexpected on Thursday afternoon with the boy supposedly inside.

The balloon has now come down in a field, however on closer inspection, the boy wasn't onboard.

Authorities are now baffled as to where the boy could be.

The landing

Eyewitnesses reports are now reporting that people saw something drop from the air prompting authorities to perform a ground search for the boy.

Richard Heene, the father of the missing boy is a Colorado weather-chaser.

Further digging by the US media has revealed that the boy and his family — mother, Mayumi and brothers, Ryo and Bradford appeared on the ABC series "Wife Swap" on Oct. 3, 2008 and were voted back for the 100th episode of the show, which aired on March 13, 2009.

UPDATE: The boy has now be found. He was hiding in a box in the attic of his family's home.

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