A Roman Catholic priest who went missing in seas off Brazil after trying to break a record for flying with helium balloons was today feared dead.

 

 

Adelir Antonio de Carli is thought to have been blown 30 miles offshore after lifting off on Sunday afternoon.

Today rescuers reached a cluster of brightly coloured party balloons floating in the ocean off Brazil's coast but did not find the priest

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Using helicopters and fishing boats they have been constantly searching the waters where he disappeared.

 

In a helmet, thermal suit and carrying a parachute he was strapped into a chair attached to the balloons before setting off from the southern port city of Paranagua.

He is said to have reached 20,000ft before dropping to 8,200ft for the journey to Dourados, 465 miles north-west of his starting point.

He was reported missing about eight hours later after losing radio contact with the port authorities.

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His parish treasurer Denise Gallas said Father de Carli had hoped to break a 19-hour record for flying with balloons to raise money for a rest-stop for truck drivers.

She was confident he would be found "alive and well, floating somewhere in the ocean".