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Coast Guard searching for Japanese balloonist

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A veteran hot-air balloonist from Japan who went missing while trying to set new records in a trip from his native country to the U.S. state of Oregon was equipped with a personal life raft and had 20 days worth of food and water, the Coast Guard said.

Michio Kanda, 58-year-old world record holder, vanished Thursday over the North Pacific about 435 miles south of Adak, which is part of the Aleutian Islands.

Coast Guard Spokeswoman Johna Rossetti told the Anchorage Daily News that the Air Force and Coast Guard both were sending out search planes Monday, and a Coast Guard cutter was expected to be in the area by Tuesday.

Kanda, who has 30 years of ballooning experience, was trying to break the current long-distance world record of 4,767 miles. He also wanted to beat a duration record he set in 1997 with a 50-hour, 38-minute, flight from the Canadian province of Alberta to the U.S. state of Montana.