The Colombian Military Forces confirmed the sighting of an object that resembled a balloon in the country’s airspace, just as an alleged Chinese spy balloon was hovering over sensitive military installations in the United States and was later shot down.
“The National Air Defense System detected an object over 55,000 feet (16,764 meters) high, which entered Colombian airspace in the northern sector of the country, moving at an average speed of 25 knots, identifying characteristics similar to those of a balloon,” said the Colombian Air Force (FAC) in a statement released on Saturday night.
According to the statement, the air force monitored the object “until it left Colombian airspace,” noting that they determined that this “item did not represent a threat to national security and defense, as well as air safety.”
Colombian authorities did not mention the possible origin of the strange object.
The United States military shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday after it hovered over sensitive military installations a day earlier, Washington reported.
China has insisted that the balloon was just an errant civilian aircraft used primarily for meteorological research that went off course due to winds and had only limited “self-steering” capabilities.
The US authorities also announced the presence of a second balloon flying over Latin America.
Several blurry videos were uploaded to social networks in Colombia in which they reported the presence of the object in the north of the country, as well as in the neighboring Venezuelan city of Maracaibo.
The government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a Beijing ally, has so far neither confirmed nor denied the presence of any suspected balloons on its territory.
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