Colombia has confirmed a sighting of an airborne object, similar to a balloon, flying over its territory, a day after a US military F-22 jet shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina.
Colombia’s air force issued a statement providing limited details concerning a possible balloon that its air defense system had located Friday morning.
United States military officials on Friday said another Chinese balloon was spotted somewhere over Latin America but did not specify its location.
According to the Colombian air force statement, an “object” was detected in its airspace at an altitude of 55,000 feet and had entered the South American country’s airspace to the north, moving at an average speed of 28 mph.
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The statement added that the object exhibited “characteristics similar to those of a balloon” and that the air force monitored it until it left the country’s airspace.
The US Department of Defense confirmed on Friday the existence of a second balloon that reportedly flew over Costa Rica, Colombia, and Venezuela in an easterly direction.”
“We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America,’ Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder said, a day after the first craft was spotted in the US. “We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon.”
On Saturday, officials say the massive Chinese spy balloon, first seen above Montana, was shot down over U.S. airspace off the coast of South Carolina.
The balloon was spotted Saturday over parts of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Northern Greenville county in South Carolina.
The Federal Aviation Administration closed airspace in parts of North Carolina and South Carolina. All operations at Charleston, Myrtle Beach, and Wilmington airports have been paused for national security initiatives.
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President Joe Biden on Saturday made his first public comments on the Chinese surveillance balloon flying over the continental U.S.
Biden, who is traveling to New York, was asked by a reporter if there were plans to shoot the balloon down.
“We’re going to take care of it,” he responded.
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