Hydrogen balloon heading for Europe makes 'precautionary landing' in eastern P.E.I.

Gwyneth Egan · CBC News

· Posted: May 29, 2025 2:47 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

Three unit members are harmless aft a hydrogen aerial balloon connected a transatlantic formation way had to marque what the Transportation Safety Board is calling a precautionary landing successful Prince Edward Island.

"It is with a dense bosom that we person to pass you that the Torabhaig Atlantic Explorer Balloon has been forced to onshore ... with a suspected state leak," reads a station connected the project's Facebook page.

The balloon landed successful a swamp adjacent Cardigan, connected P.E.I.'s eastbound coast, wherever unit members became stuck, said the Halifax-based Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre. 

The rescue centre said a section EMS squad treated 1 unit member for insignificant injuries, and each three are safe. 

• Path of Torabhaig Atlantic Explorer earlier landing 

"This was a precautionary landing, not needfully an exigency landing. The balloon landed successful a boggy/marshy country and came to remainder connected its side," the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said successful an email to CBC News. The national bureau said it is collecting information and assessing the incident. 

End of ngo called 'heartbreaking' 

A hydrogen balloon flies by utilizing a sealed sack of hydrogen gas, which gives the balloon buoyancy, said Kevin Stass, a subordinate of the formation power squad who is located successful the United Kingdom. 

During the daytime, the prima heats the gas, which causes it to grow and frankincense lifts the balloon higher, helium told CBC News successful an interview. 

On Thursday, the unit could not recognize wherefore the balloon was not rising during the daytime erstwhile the sun's warmth should person been causing it to bash so, helium said. That's what led them to reason they had a state leak. 

"When you're going to perpetrate yourself to flying crossed the Atlantic, you've got to marque definite that everything is perfectly correct," Stass said. "Unfortunately, they had to travel to the precise hard determination of having to land."

Stass said the program was ever to enactment connected oregon adjacent to onshore for the archetypal 24 hours of the adventure, earlier taking the balloon retired implicit the Atlantic. He said the balloon was damaged during the landing, truthful the ngo is implicit for now.

The unit was "extremely disappointed" astir the landing, Stass said. 

"To person thing similar this happen... it's heartbreaking really," helium said. 

Similar effort successful 2024

The Torabhaig Atlantic Explorer was aiming to beryllium the archetypal trade of its benignant to transverse the Atlantic Ocean, according to the group's website. 

According to a bid of posts connected the group's website, a similar effort was made successful 2024. The effort was aborted due to the fact that of weather, with the balloon making its landing successful New Brunswick. 

A station connected the tract said the balloon, "piloted by Bert Padelt and co-piloted by Peter Cuneo and Alicia Hempleman-Adams, volition instrumentality formation arsenic portion of an audacious escapade of aged friends connected a travel that volition look for caller technological discoveries portion aiming to go the archetypal ever formation of an unfastened handbasket hydrogen balloon crossed the Atlantic."

The project's website said the balloon took disconnected from Presque Isle, Maine, Wednesday nighttime astir 10 p.m. ET.

"Their way volition instrumentality them from Maine implicit Newfoundland, Canada, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and past Ireland and Scottish waters earlier landing successful Europe, traversing implicit many thousands of miles," the tract said.

In the hr earlier the exigency landing, galore Prince Edward Islanders noted the achromatic craft successful the entity and posted photos and questions astir it connected societal media.