Chinese state media say a man has been found safe after he spent two days aloft in a hydrogen balloon, traveling about 320 kilometers (200 miles), after it became untethered and flew away while he was using it to harvest pine nuts from a tree.
The man, identified only by his surname, Hu, and a partner were collecting pine nuts on Sunday in a forest park in Heilongjiang province in northeastern China when they lost control and the balloon sailed off.
The other person jumped to the ground, and a search was launched for the escaped balloon and Hu.
State broadcaster CCTV said rescuers were able to contact the man by cellphone the following morning and instructed him to slowly deflate the balloon to land safely. It took another day before he reached the ground about 320 kilometers (200 miles) to the northeast in Fangzheng region, close to the border with Russia.
Hu was in good health, apart from a pain in his lower back, possibly from standing the entire time he was in the air, CCTV said.
An official who gave only his surname, Fu, at the publicity department of the Hailin Forestry Administration Co. on Thursday confirmed the balloon incident and described Hu as being in his 40s. He said Hu was recovering in a hospital but declined to give further details.
What a fn day lmao, glad they're safe
Chinese citizens are so poor they have to use hydrogen balloons to pick pine nuts themselves instead of going to Costco, grabbing a 50 lb bag and 12 gallons of Ranch and Cherry Coke, and puttering my way back to my suburban hellscape home.
China bad
/uj China sounds better every day
damn this is the shit they have going on over there, full on hijinks and healthcare while we just have mass murder
Holy shit how terrifying to spend a day strapped to a bomb floating in the sky. He must have been praying for no electrical interactions
It's been a while since i've read about balloon shenanigans. Remember a few years ago when that kid supposedly went up in a balloon and got lost, but it turned out to be some kind of hoax?
Jon Bois will be the only person allowed to make youtube videos after the revolution and they will be required viewing.
welp lesson learned, teather the balloon down real good when you use it to pick pine nuts. glad he's safe
I always laughed thinking about the FAA balloon pilots license exam
"so which way are we going today?"
"uhh downwind"
"where would you land if we had an emergency in the balloon?"
"anywhere?"
in reality its probably understanding how the balloon works and being able to read winds and temps aloft charts
50 Million Deaths occurred during this incident and were censored by the CCP.
