Search teams in Virginia on Sunday discovered the body of the third person who died when a hot air balloon struck a power line and plummeted to the ground in flames, police said.
A search party of more than 100 police and rescue workers found the remains about 91 metres north of where the second body was discovered on Saturday, police said.
“Now that the male pilot and two female passengers have all been located, this concludes the large-scale search efforts of the operation,” Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said in a statement.
The father of the pilot identified him as Daniel T. Kirk, 65, an Army veteran with over 30 years of balloon piloting experience.
“He was an excellent pilot,” Kirk’s father, Donald, said, adding that he had flown with his son at least 70 times. “He probably had at least 100 trips a year. That was his life.”
The University of Richmond on Saturday had named two of its women’s basketball officials as among the three people aboard the balloon.