Amid rows between Washington and Beijing over a suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew over the US for days, Colombia has now informed of an object with “similar characteristics” in its airspace.
On the morning of February 3, the Colombian national air defense system discovered an object at an altitude of around 17,000 meters that had entered the airspace in the northern sector of the country, the Colombian Air Force said on Saturday (local time). The object moved at an average speed of 25 knots and showed “properties similar to a balloon”.
The Colombian Air Force tracked the object through its defense systems until it left the airspace, it said. It presented “no threat to national security and defense or flight safety”. The Air Force is now working with other countries to determine the origin of the object.
The US military shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon on Saturday after days of observation. Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder earlier said Friday in Washington that another possible spy balloon was hovering over Latin America. “We are seeing reports of a balloon flying over Latin America. We are in the process of finding out if this is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” Ryder said. Initially, there was no information about the second balloon from Beijing.
