By Keith Coffman
DENVER (Reuters) - A 6-year-old boy said to have climbed into a homemade helium balloon that took off and flew across Colorado on Thursday, was not inside when the contraption landed and authorities launched a search for him.
The silver, flying-saucer-shaped balloon was shown on live TV as it soared up to 7,000 feet (2,100 metres) and drifted for miles across the Colorado skies, landing gently in a field after slowly deflating.
Rescue crews rushed to the scene after being told the boy had climbed inside the balloon before it became untethered at his family's home in Fort Collins, but the boy was not found.
"The bottom of (the balloon) is contained and hasn't been breached," Eloise Campanella of Larimer County Sheriff's Department told CNN shortly after the balloon landed.
"So at this point we are thinking he did not fall out of it. He has to be somewhere on the ground near his home."
A spokeswoman for the county sheriff said deputies were searching for him in his neighbourhood.
The boy was identified by the Denver Post as Falcon Heene.
The newspaper said the boy's father, Richard Heene, a storm chaser and amateur scientist, had built the contraption and that the boy's brother had seen him get inside before it broke loose from its moorings.
National Guard helicopters were scrambled and were monitoring the balloon when it landed.
Aviation experts said the boy could have survived the flight, but he would have been cold and possibly disoriented at high altitudes.
(Writing by Dan Whitcomb, Editing by Chris Wilson)
