The Italian coast guard said Monday it called off the search for a pair of U.S. balloonists who disappeared last week over the Adriatic Sea.
The search was called off after a final attempt to locate Carol Rymer Davis of Denver and Richard Abruzzo of Albuquerque had failed, said coast guard spokesman Lt. Massimo Maccheroni.
Maccheroni said a robotic vehicle scanned the seabed of the Adriatic for any remains but found nothing that could be traced to the balloonists.
The veteran pilots were flying in the 54th Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon Race when contact was lost Wednesday over the Adriatic Sea. Race organizers said the two plunged toward the water at 80 mph and likely didn’t survive. Since then, search-and-rescue teams have scoured the Adriatic Sea. Over the weekend, divers joined in the search, as hope was beginning to fade.
On Monday, in a last attempt, the robotic vehicle plunged to depths of 656 feet to photograph the seabed off Vieste, in Puglia, where the balloon was believed to have crashed. The Associated Press
