Fears grow for party balloon flight priest

Hope was fading today for a priest who vanished attempting to fly hundreds of miles supported by party balloons.

The 41-year-old Catholic has been missing since Sunday, when he lifted off from the Brazilian city of Paranagua wearing a helmet, an aluminium thermal flight suit, waterproof overalls and a parachute.

Less than an hour in to the flight Father Adelir de Carli told his support crew by satellite phone that he would not be able to complete the planned flight to the city of Dourados, 465 miles away, according to team member Jose Carlos Bom.

“He told us he was beginning to descend over the ocean, but never said he was about to crash into the water,” Mr Bom said. “There was never any panic in his voice.”

For the next eight hours, until his phone went dead, Father de Carli maintained contact with the team, using a GPS device to report his position as he descended.

Searchers went to look for him almost immediately, “but unfortunately we still have no idea where he is.” Mr Bom said.

The cleric’s former flight teacher called his disappearance a “tragedy foretold.”

Paragliding instructor Marcio Andre Lichtnow, who gave courses to Father de Carli three years ago, described him as a “headstrong, anxious individual who was always in a rush.”

“After two or three months, I asked him to abandon the course because of these personality traits, which are not the ideal profile for a paraglider.

“So what happened comes as no big surprise.”

He added that the priest had phoned him days before lift-off.

“I told him that the winds would carry him all the way to South Africa,” Mr Lichtnow said.

“He said he had studied everything very carefully and that he would go ahead. I honestly thought he was joking.”

Rescuers in boats, planes and helicopters continued to search off Brazil’s southern coast, near where a cluster of yellow, orange, pink and white balloons was found floating in the Atlantic. Others hunted through coastal forests.

“It is getting harder to hold on to our optimism,” said fire department commander Johnny Coelho, although the priest had enough food and water to stay alive for five days.

Father de Carli hoped his flight would help raise money for a centre where truck drivers could stop “to rest and receive the gospel,” said Denise Gallas, treasurer at his Sao Cristovao parish.