Italian boat finds remains of US balloonists

[Tuesday Afternoon]

Source: AP

NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Nicole Winfield, Associated Press

ROME – An Italian fishing boat on Monday pulled the remains of two American balloonists from the Adriatic Sea, ending a two-month hunt for the pair's bodies in one of ballooning's darkest chapters.

The boat hauled in the balloon gondola with the bodies of the Americans still inside while fishing 11 miles (17 kilometers) north of Vieste in southern Puglia before dawn, said Cmdr. Guido Limongelli of the Vieste port.

He said documents found in the gondola confirmed the identities of Richard Abruzzo, 47, of Albuquerque, and Carol Rymer Davis, 65, of Denver.

The two had been participating in the 54th Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon Race when contact was lost Sept. 29 as they flew over the Adriatic. They had taken off with some 20 other balloons from the English city of Bristol on Sept. 25.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_italy_missing_balloonists

[Gator_Matt]

1. Horrible, but at least it provides closure for the families. NT

[Warpy]

2. They died doing the thing they most loved

so it's not a tragedy for anyone, not really.

Abruzzo was a local celebrity, so he'd get interviewed a lot. You could tell by the way he'd keep cutting his eyes over to the balloon being inflated that he wasn't really alive until it took off.

But yes, it's good there is closure and the families aren't thinking of their people out on a raft, dying of thirst under the hot sun.

There's a western notion about dying with your boots on. It means you lived your life to the fullest up to the last breath.

They died with their boots on.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

3. I'd rather have the sad, dishonorable, pathetic, un-badass death by old age, thank you. -nt