Hot Air Balloon With Newly Engaged Couple Lands In Ocean

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October 8, 2014 9:18 AM

A couple had an "unforgettable" experience when their hot air balloon veered off course, making an emergency landing in the sea.

A romantic sunset engagement in a hot air balloon almost turned tragic on Sunday when the balloon carrying Eric Barretto and his newly affianced love, veered off course from Carlifornia coastline and landed in the surf.

Hundreds of people along the coast near Cardiff-by-the-Sea just before 7 p.m. watched as the balloon drifted off course and hovered over the waves.

Eric Barretto was proposing to his fianceé when he said the balloon veered over the water and the pilot could not get the balloon back to shore.

Barretto said they threw a line to the water below and some surfers helped pull the balloon back to shore.

"My fianceé and I were getting engaged up there and the next thing you know the balloon was veering off toward the water, and we couldn't get our way back to land," Barretto said in an interview that aired on TODAY Monday.

The pilot, who identified himself as Tim with Panda Air Bear Balloon Flights, said that as the winds pushed the balloon to the west, he thought the best thing to do was get to the water and have the onshore winds help push the balloon back to shore.

"It's unforgettable. That's all I can say," Barretto said. "I don't know if we'll do it again."

The balloon basket landed in the surf and took in several waves, according to Encinitas Marine Safety Capt. Larry Giles.

"Between the lifeguards and the bystanders in the water, the surfers here at Cardiff reef, everyone did a great job and they got the balloon back up onto the beach without injury," Giles said.

Fortunately, no one was hurt.

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