Colombian Air Force releases new info about Chinese balloon over South America

The Colombian Air Force released new information on Saturday regarding the Chinese balloon that was spotted over South America this week as another one was shot down off the eastern coast of the United States the same day.

The balloon was first spotted earlier this week around the same time another one was seen flying over Canada and Montana. By Saturday it had reached the east coast of South Carolina, where the United States military shot it out of the sky over US waters. The United States Navy is currently collecting debris and as much of the craft as possible for intel gathering purposes.

The second balloon was confirmed by US officials on Friday when it was spotted over Colombia, and on Saturday Colombian military officials confirmed they had also located the balloon, but did not specifically mention China. The statement explained that the Air Force had found an object in its airspace on Friday morning, and had tracked it at 55,000 feet and traveling at a speed of 29 miles per hour.

The statement confirmed that the Colombian military did not identify the object they say had “characteristics similar to those of a balloon” as a threat. Balloon sightings were reported earlier this week in Costa Rica and Venezuela, according to officials, but as of Sunday no other Latin American countries have reported seeing the balloon in their airspace.

Beijing blasted the US decision to shoot down the balloon on Saturday, which it maintains is a civilian weather balloon that simply veered off course.