Hot-air balloon pilot missing in Georgia

Associated Press

ATLANTA — As a fierce thunderstorm that came out of nowhere closed in, hot-air balloon pilot Edward Ristaino spotted an open field and warned the five skydivers aboard the craft to jump before it was too late.

He may have saved their lives. With lightning spidering across the sky and the wind rocking their parachutes, the skydivers floated safely to the ground, while the balloon was sucked up into the clouds and destroyed.

Ristaino is missing and feared dead.