COULTER, Iowa, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Two Colorado men were killed when their hot-air balloon tangled with a power line in Iowa.
A third man survived the crash Friday, The Des Moines Register reported.
Thomas Boylan of Fort Collins and Bradley Brookhart of Littleton took off from Greeley, Colo., Wednesday night with Doug Chaplin of Albuquerque. They spent Thursday night in Omaha, launching the balloon shortly before daybreak.
The crash occurred in farming country in Franklin County near Coulter.
"Witnesses said they saw the balloon come across the sky and watched it get caught on the top wire of a power line," Franklin County Sheriff Larry Richtsmeier said. "Then it just dropped."
The collision separated the balloon from the wicker basket carrying the three men, which fell about 50 feet to the ground. The balloon was found about a mile away.
The balloonists and the crew of another balloon that took off from Greeley at the same time were trying to set an endurance and speed record.
