Balloon-mania spread across the world this weekend as South Korea reported an incursion by a North Korean balloon into its territory, and the Colombian military confirmed a sighting of a “balloon-like object” within its airspace.
The Colombian sighting involved an object floating at 55,000 feet and moving at a speed of less than 30 miles per hour, which the Colombian air force described as “characteristics similar to those of a balloon.” The air force said it did not judge the object to be a security threat.
Colombian military officials on Saturday did not venture a guess as to the origin of the mysterious object, but the U.S. military previously warned that a Chinese “unmanned aircraft” was operating over Latin America at the same time a Chinese balloon was completing its journey across the continental United States. Colombian officials did not indicate they believed that China played any role in the discovery of the alleged object near its airspace.
Social media accounts from Venezuela and Costa Rica also included balloon sightings, which could have been the object tracked by Colombia and/or the object described by the U.S. military.
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