and Sabine was always doubtful, they quickly decided Freudenberg would escape alone. He occupied the beam and cut the tethers. With only one person aboard, the balloon had a very high buoyancy and rose fast. Ballast bags hanging down on ropes severed a power line shortly after launching, and caused it to short-cut and spark. Although East German security had often shot and killed citizens attempting to escape, they decided against shooting because of the possibility of triggering an explosion of the natural gas now leaking. Also, they believed Freudenberg had been killed by the current (which was not the case). 23-year-old Sabine was able to get back home, where the Stasi were already waiting for her. The improvised balloon had too much buoyancy and, because it lacked a properly working valve, it rose quickly and much higher than planned. Freudenberg couldn't sink and spent more than five hours aloft. At first, his course was west-south-west. With wind velocities of about 20 km/h (12 mph) at the time he must have reached West Berlin after about 20 minutes. Later, Freudenberg passed over the Berlin Tegel Airport where he lost or dropped some ballast. His altitude must at this point have increased to more than 2,000 meters (6,500 feet), as his course now changed to south due to different direction of higher altitude winds. The balloon was sighted over Teufelsberg hill at dawn, where it was mistaken for a weather balloon. Shortly before flying into East German territory again, at 7:30, Freudenberg fell into the garden of a villa in the suburb of Zehlendorf. The remains of the balloon came down about one kilometer (1000 yards) away on the median strip of a thoroughfare. Freudenberg's body was discovered hours later in the garden of a villa on Limastrasse. He evidently died instantly from injuries sustained in the crash. Nearly every bone in his body had been broken, and virtually every internal organ had been damaged. The direct cause of the crash is unclear. West Berlin police supposed that Freudenberg climbed the net to cut the envelope, obviously succeeded, and in the ensuing events lost his hold. After the incident, East German police investigated Freudenberg's friends, family, acquaintances, colleagues, and wife, to determine whether any had participated in the escape attempt. Because of international attention and pressure over the recent shooting of Chris Gueffroy, the last refugee to be shot by East