BEIJING (AP) — A man flew about 200 miles aloft for two days in a hydrogen balloon, which broke off a rope and flew as he picked pine nuts from a tree, Chinese state media said. gone. .
On September 4, the man, surnamed Hu, and a partner lost control while collecting pine nuts in a forest park in northeastern China’s Heilongjiang province, and the balloon flew away.
Another jumped to the ground and launched a search for the escaped balloon and Hu.
CCTV said rescuers reached the man on a cell phone the next morning and instructed him to slowly deflate the balloon for a safe landing. It took another day before he reached the ground about 200 miles northeast of the Founders region near the Russian border.
CCTV said Hu was in good health, except for the pain in his lower back, probably because he had been standing in the air.
An official in the propaganda department of the Hailin Forestry Bureau, who gave only his surname as Fu, confirmed the balloon incident and said Hu was in his 40s. He said Hu was recovering in the hospital, but declined to provide further details.
Pine nuts are found inside pine cones and are a common ingredient in dishes from the Northeast region, formerly known as Manzhouli.
