BRAZIL:BRASILIA - Ships and planes searched along the coast of Brazil yesterday for a priest who disappeared after drifting out to sea suspended from hundreds of helium-filled party balloons, authorities said.
Rescue workers said they had not given up hope of finding Father Adelir Antonio de Carli even though bunches of the multicoloured balloons had been found floating on the sea.
Father de Carli staged the stunt to help raise money for a chapel for truckers in his highway parish.
He had left from the southern port of Paranagua and wanted to fly 20 hours due west but winds unexpectedly carried him out to sea in the opposite direction.
Friends said remaining balloons or flotation chambers in his harness-like seat could have helped Father de Carli float. "We certainly have lots of hope he will turn up; they found 50 balloons. He still has lots; there were 1,000," said parishioner Eliana Aparecida dos Santos. - ( Reuters )