A US vicar's romantic proposal to his girlfriend in a hot air balloon fell flat when he dropped the engagement ring.

The ring fell 500ft into woodland below after James Ng's embarrassing gaffe, reports the Daily Telegraph. Mr Ng, 27, had hidden the £2,000 diamond ring in his camera case. As the pair floated above Ohio in late October, the case slipped from his hand.

"My first thought was don't tell her, and buy another ring - but it took me forever to afford the one I had," he said.

His girlfriend, Sonya Bostic, a 27-year-old teacher, caught on, so Mr Ng dropped to one knee and proposed using a plastic tie twist. She said yes.

Unable to believe the ring was lost for good, the vicar started mapping the co-ordinates of the balloon's journey from the sky.

Over the following week, as his fiancée proudly wore a £5 Wal-Mart ring on her engagement finger, Mr Ng and a friend cut through brambles with machetes, searching for the camera bag.

"We had maps and a very clear plan of all the ground we needed to cover," said Mr Ng.

After seven arduous days of searching the three-mile-square area, they found the camera bag. The only thing still inside it was the ring.

"I think the first thing I said was holy cow," said Mr Ng. "Then I called Sonya right away."

Source: www.ananova.com