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A hot air balloon carrying 13 people was unexpectedly forced to make an emergency landing in a backyard in Southern California on Saturday, as reported by FOX 5 and KUSI.
The balloon gently touched down on a grassy area in the backyard of Hunter and Jenna Perrin’s home in Temecula, California.
During an interview with FOX 5 San Diego’s Morning team, Hunter explained that he and his wife were at home when he received an alert on his phone indicating movement in their backyard, captured by a security camera.
Suddenly, their doorbell began to ring repeatedly.
“I went to answer the door, and a man was there saying, ‘They just landed in your backyard!’” Hunter recounted. He was even more puzzled when the neighbor clarified, “The hot air balloon.”
The Perrins sprinted to the glass door leading to their backyard to try to make sense of the bizarre encounter.
“There’s just 13 people in a basket waving at us, wishing us ‘good morning,’” Hunter said while laughing.
The hot air balloon, which is operated by the company Magical Adventure, was forced to make an emergency landing because of low fuel and a shift in winds, according to passenger Brianna Avalos.
Once the pilot disembarked all of the passengers, the massive blue balloon returned to the air and landed on a nearby street, where it was dismantled.
“The pilot did such an amazing job, just absolutely nailing the landing right in the backyard,” said Hunter. “Our backyard has this big hill next to the grass, so the grass part is pretty small, and he set the balloon down just right in the middle.”
Jenna said that the whole outlandish scenario reminded her of something out of the Disney Pixar film “Up.”
“It just looked like it was going to take the house up with it,” said Hunter.