The US military shot down the Chinese spy balloon that flew over America for several days on Saturday. A fighter jet shot down the balloon as it hovered off the coast of South Carolina, international news agencies report. The American aviation authority FAA had closed the local airspace a few hours before to allow the operation to take place.
The US Department of Defense received permission from President Joe Biden on Saturday to shoot down the spy balloon. The FAA then closed three airports and local airspace, and the Coast Guard warned fishermen to avoid the area because of falling debris. Television images show a small explosion, after which the balloon falls.
The US first spotted the spy balloon this week when it flew over the US state of Montana. The Pentagon said on Thursday that China was “most likely” spying on the US with the balloon. The Chinese Ministry of Defense denies that and has said that it was an accidentally “off course civilian airship” for meteorological research. The balloon nevertheless caused a stir: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to visit Chinese President Xi Jinping next Sunday, but that meeting has since been cancelled.
On the night from Friday to Saturday, the US Department of Defense reported that a second balloon had been sighted, this time hovering over South America. According to the Canadian television channel CTV News there is even talk of a total of four balloons, of which the three remaining balloons would fly over different parts of the world.