Two people have been rescued after a hot air balloon became tangled in a communications tower in Texas this week, which sparked a rescue operation more than 274 metres above the ground.
The incident happened over the weekend in the city of Longview, located about 193 kilometres east of Dallas.
The Associated Press reported the rescue mission was complex, and took hours of involvement from over a dozen firefighters who were operating at various heights on the tower.
Firefighters took around an hour to climb the tower, and give equipment to the couple to help them escape. After another hour, they were secured inside the tower, and could begin climbing down, which took almost another two hours.
Both the man and woman were then transported to hospital as a precaution.
At a press conference, Lt. Stephen Wichell told media "this is exactly one of the scenarios we talk about as kind of the Super Bowl of rope rescue".
He added the situation had been discussed about what to do if a hot air balloon became stuck in either this tower or a tall tree located in the area.
"We just didn’t expect today that both of those scenarios would get combined into one very tall rescue."
The US Federal Aviation Administration said it would investigate the incident, which involved a Cameron Z-77 balloon.
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