Canadian investigators are searching for debris after the United States shot down an unidentified flying object over Yukon territory on Saturday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed a U.S. fighter jet shot down the object on Saturday, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y) says U.S. intelligence officials believe is a Chinese surveillance balloon. A similar object was shot down as it entered U.S. airspace over Alaska on Friday.
WHITE HOUSE WON’T COMMIT TO SHOOTING DOWN FUTURE CHINESE SPY BALLOONS
“Recovery teams are on the ground, looking to find and analyze the object,” Trudeau told reporters on Sunday via Reuters.
Trudeau did not specify what the object was but said it “represented a reasonable threat to the security of civilian flight.”
“The security of citizens is our top priority and that’s why I made the decision to have that unidentified object shot down,” Trudeau added.
Canadian defense officials are looking for debris in the northwest region of the nation, which borders Alaska.
Chinese spy balloons have become a hot-button topic among lawmakers across the aisle as they debate over the Biden administration’s response time to shooting down the first Chinese spy balloon. The balloon entered U.S. airspace in late January, defense officials reported.
China has denied that the balloons were spyware but instead were civilian research crafts blown off course while gathering meteorological data. The objects shot down over the weekend were smaller than the original but still believed to be balloons, Schumer said.
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The White House said the recently downed objects did “not closely resemble” the original balloon.
Biden had ordered the first balloon to be shot down earlier last week, but defense officials held off shooting it down until more information could be gathered. It was finally shot down while floating off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4.
