An object with “characteristics similar” to a balloon entered Colombian airspace on Friday, according to the country’s air force command.
“On Feb. 3, 2023 in the morning, the National Air Defense System detected an object over 55,000 ft., which entered Colombian airspace in the northern sector of the country,” a press release from the air force said Saturday in Spanish.
The report comes the same day as the United States military shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast on orders from President Joe Biden after it traversed sensitive military sites across North America.
In a statement Saturday, Canada’s Minister of Federal Defence Minister Anita Anand says the nation “unequivocally supports” the United States government’s decision to shoot down the balloon, noting it violated Canadian airspace.
In Colombia, the air force tracked the suspected balloon until it left the airspace.
“It was determined that this element did not represent a threat to national security and defence, as well as to aviation safety,” Colombia’s air force said in the release in Spanish.
“The Institution carries out the pertinent investigations and coordination with different countries and institutions, to establish the origin of the object.”
– With files from The Associated Press