Coast guard begins final day of search for missing balloonists, uses robot to scan seabed

Search for missing balloonists to end

ROME — The search for a pair of missing American balloonists has entered its final day with a robotic vehicle scanning the seabed of the Adriatic sea for any remains.

Coast guard spokesman Lt. Massimo Maccheroni said Monday would be the last day of the search for Richard Abruzzo and Carol Rymer Davis.

The veteran pilots were flying in the 54th Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon Race when contact was lost Wednesday. On Friday, race organizers said that radar showed the balloon had plunged into the Adriatic at 50 mph (80 kph) and that the two likely didn’t survive.

For the final search, the coast guard was using a robotic vehicle that plunges to depths of 200 meters (656 feet) to photograph the seabed off Vieste, in Puglia, where the balloon was believed to have crashed.