Hot Air Balloonists Rescued After Getting Tangled on 900-Foot-Tall Tower, on Video

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a hot air balloon tangled up in a communications tower! Firefighters in Longview, Texas, rescued 2 hot air balloonists Saturday after they crashed into a 900-foot-tall structure ... and the harrowing mission was all caught on video.

Watch the clip ... you can see the balloon is basically ripped to shreds ... which makes you think they may have been lucky to get caught hanging hundreds of feet above ground --instead of hurtling towards the earth!

In an interview with KLTV, the Longview Fire Department said its firefighters had trained for a hot air balloon incident ... but not like this. Due to the height of the tower, 6 different rope systems had to be used, KLTV reported. A total of 35 firefighters reportedly responded, including 14 that were deployed on the tower and 21 on the ground.

Thankfully, both balloonists reportedly were able to get safely to the ground.