17 rescued after hot-air balloon lands on island near Napa

A hot-air balloon mistakenly landed on an island near Napa County Airport Tuesday morning, leaving 17 passengers stranded until the California Highway Patrol performed an aerial rescue. The events unfolded around 7 a.m. when a CHP airplane spotted the balloon on a thin strip of land at Devil’s Slough three miles south of the airport, surrounded by ponds and sloughs. The operator of the ballon thought he was landing on a road, until he learned through radio communication with CHP that they were stuck, said CHP officer Officer Tom Lipsey. Soon a CHP helicopter arrived and took the balloon riders off the island in groups of three at a time, flying them to the nearest residential street 1.5 miles away at Milton Road in Napa.