(Dan Tri) – Colombia and Costa Rica confirmed the appearance of a hot air balloon in the context of the US announcing that it shot down a hot air balloon suspected of being a Chinese spy device.
A hot air balloon carrying Chinese spy equipment flies over Billings, Montana, USA (Photo: Reuters).
On the evening of February 4, Costa Rica confirmed that someone had seen a large white hot air balloon flying over the capital San Jose this week.
The general director of Costa Rica’s civil aviation agency, Fernando Naranjo Elizondo, told CNN that the hot air balloon discovered in San Jose on February 2 `is not a hot air balloon originating from Costa Rica.`
According to Mr. Elizondo, Costa Rica has no plans to investigate further `because the balloon has disappeared.`
The Colombian Air Force confirmed that an object with `characteristics similar to a hot air balloon` was discovered in the country’s airspace on February 3.
The balloon left Colombian airspace after being tracked by the National Defense System.
The Colombian Air Force confirmed that the balloon `does not pose a threat to the security and defense, (or) to aviation safety` of Colombia.
US President Joe Biden announced on February 4 that a hot air balloon suspected to be a Chinese spy device was shot down after a few days of appearing in the US sky.
A senior US State Department official emphasized that the appearance of a Chinese hot air balloon in US airspace is `a violation of sovereignty and international law, and is unacceptable`.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed that it was only a civil balloon used for research purposes, mainly meteorological research.
An object suspected to be a Chinese spy balloon appeared in the US
A senior US government official has rejected China’s claims that the downed hot air balloon was simply used for `civilian` purposes and had `accidentally` entered US airspace.
`This is a Chinese reconnaissance balloon. This balloon intentionally passed over the US and Canada and we believe it was trying to spy on sensitive military locations,` the US official said.
US officials said that the second balloon, discovered in Central and South America, was `another Chinese reconnaissance balloon` and had similar technical characteristics to the balloon that flew over the US.
`Both balloons carried reconnaissance equipment not normally associated with standard meteorological activities or civilian research. The information gathering equipment and solar panels were on a metal truss hanging on the side
According to US officials, China has used these types of reconnaissance balloons for many years and these devices have been detected on five continents.
