Iowa ? A helium-powered balloon hit a power line and crashed onto a north-central Iowa cattle pasture Friday, killing two men and injuring a third, a sheriff said.

The balloon was descending when it hit the line around 9:15 a.m. The balloon and the basket separated and the basket fell 60 feet to the ground, Franklin County Sheriff Larry Richtsmeier said.

Residents who had come out of their house to wave at the balloonists saw it hit the power line, called 911 and rushed to the scene, Richtsmeier said. They found the basket on its side in the pasture, about three miles southwest of Coulter.

Dr. Thomas Boylan, 62, an osteopath from Fort Collins, Colo., and Bradley Brookhart, 37, of Littleton, Colo., died at the scene, authorities said. Doug Chaplin, 58, of Albuquerque, N.M., was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Mason City, about 35 miles away, where he was listed in fair condition Friday night.