A couple who had been taking a romantic hot air balloon ride over the Southern California shores on Sunday ended their journey with a leisurely swim after their airborne vessel came crashing into the Pacific Ocean.

A hot air balloon crashed into power lines in Clinton, Mass. late Saturday, burning five people on board in the resulting explosion. The balloon apparently struck the power lines while attempting to land.

A second body has been found in the crash that sent a hot air balloon plummeting to earth yesterday in Virginia after it had floated into power lines and was set on fire. Recovery efforts are still being made for a third victim and the wreckage of the balloon.

A passenger on a nearby balloon managed to capture video of the hot air balloon accident that claimed the lives of 19 tourists yesterday in Luxor, Egypt: Smoke billows from the balloon's basket for several seconds before the ballon itself dramatically deflates and plummets toward the ground. Passengers on the balloon filming the terrifying scene can be heard gasping and praying. Victims included tourists from Japan, China, the U.K. and Hungary; the two survivors, the pilot and a British tourist, survived by jumping from the balloon. "I saw tourists catching fire and they were jumping from the balloon," local farmer Hassan Abdel-Rasoul told AP. "They were trying to flee the fire but it was on their bodies." The crash—by far the worst in history—led to the immediate suspension of hot air balloon flights in Luxor.

The Ron Paul people resorted to firing up a big ol' hot air balloon in "the middle of the frontage road" right out there off of I-85 in upstate South Carolina yesterday as a means of getting any attention whatsoever in the state. It worked: Palmetto State motorists, transfixed by the aircraft's radiance of Liberty, sat in traffic for four miles. The highway cops eventually issued the balloonists a warning for "improper lane use" and got them to pack up.

Hot air balloons are pretty, right? Well, what if they have a man hanging from the basket suspended by only two hooks placed in his back? Not so cute now, huh?

[Dozens of hot air balloons get ready for a morning flight at the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta in Bristol, England, today. Image via Getty]

Here's a tip: if you're going to launch a hot air balloon, make sure it's actually in the air. Especially if you're going to fly over (and not into) crowds of people.

[A hot air balloon festival got underway today in Baotou in the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia; image via Getty]