The 'balloon priest' was a notorious daredevil, and his brave ways were what led him to the end of his life in a freak accident

Priest’s four last words before he died after tying himself to 1,000 balloons

He was an experienced skydiver, before taking on the flight challenge (Image: catholicnewsagency/YouTube)

Priest Father Adelir Antonio de Carli hoped to raise considerable funds for charity when he decided to tie imself to 1,000 balloons.

However, his daredevil bid ended in tragedy as he floated off into the sky. Father De Carli hoped to of raise money to fund a chapel for truckers in his highway parish, in April 2008. He came up with unusual idea to tie himself to 1,000 helium-filled balloons. He was kitted out with a helmet, an aluminium thermal flight suit and waterproof clothing, along with a parachute, as he set off from Paranagua, a port city in Brazil. 

The mission was for the priest to break the 19-hour world record for the longest time someone was ballooned up in the air – and raise money in the meantime. It helped, of course, that he was a trained skydiver with plenty of experience and had an arsenal of survival and wilderness skills to back him up on this excursion.

His April mission was, in fact, not his first, after he made a successful attempt at the stunt in the January prior, using 600 balloons. This took him on a four-hour journey 17,390 feet above the ground – and yet, it still wasn't enough to save him. 

A 41-year-old De Carli decided to arm himself this time around with a GPS tracker and radio, allowing him to update and contact air traffic control of his positioning. Although, after eight hours in the air, the priest went completely off the grid.

Priest’s four last words before he died after tying himself to 1,000 balloons

Two days later, multicoloured balloons were seen in the sea (Image: catholicnewsagency/YouTube)

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Aircraft and rescue teams searched to no avail for the priest, but they had no luck in finding him. That was until, two days after the big charity event, a number of balloons were spotted in the sea, near de Carli's last point of contact.

It wasn't until months later in July that his body was discovered, after a series of DNA tests confirmed it belonged to the missing priest. His body was miraculously found by chance, as two tugboat workers were on shift out at sea.

Macae’s chief of police, Daniel Bandeira said: "We were almost certain that it was the priest due to various elements, such as the clothes and material used in the balloon trip. The DNA only confirmed our suspicions."

According to reports, he was having trouble working his GPS device, but he passed on a message to say that he felt "very cold, but fine". It's understood that he blew off course, and before losing contact completely, he informed others that he was allegedly "losing height".

Priest’s four last words before he died after tying himself to 1,000 balloons

His body was discovered by tugboat workers (Image: catholicnewsagency/YouTube)

After hours of flying, the priest was thought to have reached an altitude of 20,000 ft and was on course to descend to roughly 8,200 ft.

At the time of the events, before discovering his body, Fire Chief Johnny Coelhos said: "Given his physical condition and the equipment he was carrying, I would say there is an 80 percent chance he's alive."

Upon the confirmation that the body found belonged to the priest and he was pronounced dead, his brother, Moacir de Carli said: "Now we can have a respectable burial service."