Final moments of man who attempted world record with most helium balloons before heartbreaking find

In July 2008, the body of a Brazilian priest who'd tried to break a world record for the longest time spent flying with helium balloons was found, three months after he'd gone missing during his attempt.

Adelir Antonio de Carli disappeared aged 41 on 20 April 2008 after he tried to break the world record of 19 hours flying while attached to a cluster of balloons.

Earlier in the year he'd completed a four-hour balloon flight and made it 5,300 metres off the ground while attached to 600 balloons.

He planned to complete a 20-hour flight in a chair attached to 1,000 balloons, and made sure to pack his parachute, phone, food and water in case things should go wrong.

Sadly, things did go wrong for the 'Balloon Priest' and the preparations he'd made didn't save his life.

He tried to break a world record with a 20 hour balloon flight, but went missing after eight. (YouTube / @catholicnewsagency)

Twenty minutes after taking off, he said he'd need someone to teach him how to use the GPS, otherwise they wouldn't be able to track where he was.

The last contact with him almost eight hours into his flight when he was about 30 miles off the coast to give his location to the Brazilian Navy and say he was 'losing height'.

Those were the final words anyone heard of him, after that contact was lost and while a search effort was launched it was called off after a few days.

Pieces of balloon were later spotted floating in the sea off the coast of Brazil.

In July the same year, human remains were found floating in the ocean, and the clothes on the body appeared to be de Carli's.

Later that month DNA testing confirmed that the remains belonged to the 41-year-old.

His body wasn't found until three months after his disappearance, and in his final moments he called his friends to say he was falling. (YouTube / @catholicnewsagency)

De Carli had attempted the stunt to try and set a new world record and raise money for a chapel for truckers near his home.

"Now we can have a respectable burial service," his brother Moacir de Carli said after the priest's body was found.

Cluster ballooning is a particularly dangerous way to fly as it places the pilot very much at the whims of the weather and there are few safeguards should something go wrong.

Other attempts at cluster ballooning have put pilots in danger, not least because some of them carried guns and planned to shoot their own balloons to get back down to the ground.

They're also at risk of striking powerlines or other obstacles during their descent.