Local government employee Michio Kanda, 58, left early Thursday for his 9,000-km journey to North America, which was expected to take him about 60 hours.

'But supporters last received a call from him at 3.00 am on Thursday just as he was about to enter US waters,' said an official with the Japan Balloon Federation.

He said Mr Kanda's supporters were calling for rescue operations and were believed to have contacted US aviation authorities.

Mr Kanda, who has been ballooning for 30 years, set the record of 50 hours and 38 minutes in the air after leaving Calgary in Canada and landing in the tiny town of Jordan in the US state of Montana in 1997.

If successful, his latest flight may also break the record for the longest distance travelled in a hot-air balloon at 7,672 km, set in 1991 by Virgin executive Richard Branson, the federation said.

Mr Kanda's balloon 'Starlight', which measures 45 metres by 50 metres, is the biggest in the world and the second biggest in history, according to the federation.

The balloon, equipped with a satellite phone and a global positioning system, has no propulsion system so Mr Kanda is depending solely on jet streams to blow him across the Pacific. -- AFP