Müller hoped everything would hold together for the last bit of their flight. The gas tank was just a domestic propane gas bottle, turned upside down to give a better flame. The ‘basket’ was a large builder’s pallet covered in tautened canvas to cover the gaps, and the sides were welded together handrails, stolen from somewhere or other, again covered in taut canvas-like material. The balloon itself, stitched-together material purchased by Tilsner far away near Leipzig to avoid suspicion, on behalf of a fictitious police ‘sailing club’.

All of it was, no doubt, highly flammable. It was best not to think of all the things that could go wrong, and to be honest, floating relatively silently save for the rush of wind and the occasional blast of the burner, it all felt perfectly natural.

How much they were defying nature, how much they were risking, became clear in the next few seconds.

Tilsner had just opened the burner, when he let out a scream of anguish. ‘Scheisse!’

Müller followed his eyeline and saw the opening of the balloon above had caught fire. Jannika and Johannes started screaming. Müller felt powerless and simply clung on to them, hoping to give them some comfort while trying to quiet-en them.

Turning back to the basket, Tilsner dived into the supplies bag and pulled out a handheld fire extinguisher. He broke the seal, and then aimed it at the flames.

At first, it seemed as though he couldn’t get the flames to go out. Then, suddenly, he’d succeeded. But there was now a gaping hole at the side of the balloon.

‘Are we falling?’ screamed Müller, trying to keep the panic from her voice for the sake of the children. ‘Can’t you light the burner again?’

Tilsner shook his head. ‘It’s too dangerous with all that damaged material flapping around. It would just set light to it. We’ll just have to ride it out.’

‘What the fuck does that mean?’ screeched Müller.

‘Mutti!’ yelled Jannika, more concerned that her mother had sworn, possibly not understanding the life-threatening nature of their predicament.

‘Just hold on tight to the kids,’ shouted Tilsner. ‘We’ll be descending a bit more quickly than I’d have liked, but look.’ He pointed upwards to the balloon above. ‘It’s still holding most of the hot air, it’s only the bottom that’s damaged. I don’t think we’ve got too much to worry about.’

‘But have we got far enough into the BRD – are you even sure we’re over the BRD?’ She looked out of the basket and tried to focus on the land far below. Save for the occasional isolated light, there was nothing visible. It was all horribly dark – it looked to be a thinly populated, forested area.