Colorado officials say a six-year-old boy feared missing inside a homemade balloon has been found safe and sound.
Officials said the boy was found hiding inside a box in the attic in the garage of his family's home near Denver. Sheriff Jim Alderden gave a thumbs up to reporters saying, "He's at the house."
Alderden said an investigator spotted the boy in the garage. He had been hiding throughout the entire ordeal.
The boy's name is Falcon Heene, the son of retired television weatherman and storm chaser Richard Heene. An intense ground search had been underway to determine the boy's whereabouts.
Richard Heene said his family was working on the balloon Thursday. He got angry with Falcon when they boy climbed into a compartment on the craft.
The boy's brother said he was inside the compartment, which is why the family thought he was in the balloon when it took off.
Instead, the boy was hiding in the garage attic after being scolded by his father.
"I yelled at him. I'm really sorry I yelled at him," an emotional Richard Heene said during a news conference.
Heene said the balloon became airborne because it wasn't properly tied down: "It was a mishap. I'm not going to lay blame on anybody."
The Heenes, who appeared on the ABC reality show "Wife Swap" twice, also showed up on "Larry King Live" on CNN Thursday night.
Richard Heene's admitted on the show that he was sure his son was on the balloon and he was worried he'd fallen out.
"I kind of lost my mind," he said of seeing that son was in fact, safe and sound.
Falcon said he fell asleep in the garage attic and was not aware of what was going on.
Richard Heene denied that Thursday's events were some kind of publicity stunt.
"That's horrible after the crap we just went through. No," he responded bluntly to a reporter's question.
The ordeal
Earlier, officials had been trying desperately to figure out how to rescue the boy after hearing that he had climbed into a silver-lined balloon that somehow became airborne for about two hours on Thursday.
Television footage showed the makeshift aircraft coming to rest on an open field north of Denver.
While in the air, the balloon swung precariously from side to side as it rose steadily into the air.
Experts said the balloon was only capable of about 45 kilograms (100 pounds) of lift, suggesting the boy may not have actually flown away with the balloon. Additionally, authorities did not find an open hatch when they finally tracked down the balloon.
But authorities in Colorado were told the boy did climb aboard before the balloon became untethered, and launched a rescue effort to save him.
Cathy Davis of the Larimer County Sheriff's Department said Falcon and his older brother were playing behind their home when the balloon became untethered. One of Falcon's older brothers said he saw the younger Heene go into a compartment in the balloon and fly away. Its unclear why the brother said that.
A neighbour said he saw two of the Heene boys on their family's roof with a camera, making comments about their younger brother.
"One of the boys yelled to me that his brother was way up in the air," Neighbour Bob Licko, 65 said.
Licko said Falcon's parents were distraught.
Authorities were originally under the assumption Falcon was in the balloon and were making rescue plans.
"We have contacted the FAA and one Air Force base, and a balloon company, and we're trying to determine the best course of action," Davis told CNN while the balloon was in the air.
The Colorado Army National Guard sent an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter and was prepping a Black Hawk UH-60 to make a high-altitude rescue, possibly by lowering someone to the balloon. There was also a plan of using an ultralight aircraft to possibly put weights on the balloon to help lower it to the ground.
Several local news agencies with helicopters also reportedly offered to help with the rescue effort while the balloon was airborne.
ABC's "Wife Swap" website says, "When the Heene family aren't chasing storms, they devote their time to scientific experiments that include looking for extraterrestrials and building a research-gathering flying saucer to send into the eye of the storm."
With files from The Associated Press
