A tragic 2008 story about a priest has resurfaced in recent days.
Father Adelir Antonio de Carli, who went missing after attaching himself to 1,000 helium balloons so he could fly over the Atlantic, was ultimately found dead at sea after the failed adventure.
As reported by Reuters in the summer of 2008, authorities confirmed at the time that the religious leader's body was found off the coast of southeastern Brazil.
He was found by a tugboat at sea near the city of Macae three months after he went missing while flying over the ocean as part of a fund-raising event to raise money for a chapel for truckers in his highway parish.
"We were almost certain that it was the priest due to various elements, such as the clothes and material used in the balloon trip," Macae’s chief of police, Daniel Bandeira, said at the time. "The DNA only confirmed our suspicions."
The priest went missing on April 20 after he called friends from his cell phone to say he was moments away from crashing into the ocean. Around eight hours after he took off, he lost contact with port authority officials.
Per CBS News, de Carli was an experienced skydiver who had survival and wilderness training. During the flight, he had a GPS tracker and a radio on him, so he could report his position to the Brazilian Navy and air traffic control.
The priest had carried out a similar stunt on January 13, 2008, which saw him use 600 balloons to carry him on a four-hour, 17,390 foot-high trip from the town of Ampere to neighboring Argentina. During that adventure, he managed to land safely.
Since the 15-year-old story resurfaced online recently, people have had a lot to say about the tragic event, with many urging fellow social media users to have compassion for the man despite the seeming ludicrous nature of the story.
One person wrote: "It definitely wasn't the smartest thing to do, but this man was someone's family member or friend, and some or all of those people are still alive. Have some compassion for those who have weathered grief for someone they love instead of turning it into a running joke publicly on the internet."
A second penned this lengthy comment: "It's true, he was raising money to build a resting place for truck drivers, to avoid accidents, in fact during the flight his gps stopped working and a storm dragged him away, still in the air he called the rescue team asking for help and saying that the storm made him fly over the sea instead of the mainland that was planned, and he disappeared, months later they found remains of a balloon and equipment, so he was considered dead, this happened many years ago."
A third chimed in to write: "This is actually very sad. I may not agree with religion, but he was trying to make money to help people. Everyone laughing should be ashamed of themselves."
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