OTTAWA –
The RCMP says it has finished its search for an unidentified aerial object shot down over central Yukon last Saturday.
Mounties say they searched the most likely area but couldn’t find the debris.
The RCMP says it is discontinuing search efforts because snowfall has made it increasingly unlikely that the object will be found and the current belief is that it is “not linked to a scenario that warrants extraordinary search efforts.”
The US military said late Friday it had also ended its search for downed aerial objects near Deadhorse, Alaska, and over Lake Huron on February 10 and 12, respectively.
US Northern Command issued a statement saying the decision was made after the US and Canada “conducted systematic searches” of the area using a variety of tools, but failed to locate the debris.
The announcements capped a dramatic three weeks in which US warplanes shot down four midair objects, a large Chinese balloon on February 4 and three much smaller objects a week later, over Canada and the United States.
It is unclear why China sent an alleged spy balloon into Canadian and US airspace and what it accomplished. The three smaller objects have also not been identified.
Lt. Gen. Alain Pelletier, deputy commander of the joint US-Canadian air defense and surveillance command known as Norad, said officials hoped to recover the objects to analyze them and better understand their capability and origin.
Federal Defense Minister Anita Anand said last week it was too early to tell if the “cylindrical object” shot down over central Yukon was from China, but said it was “potentially similar” to the Chinese spy balloon destroyed off the coast. the South Carolina coast on February 4.
With files from Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on February 18, 2023
