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U.S. Northern Command (NORCOM) released the first photos of efforts to recover a Chinese spy balloon on Monday evening, days after it was shot down near the Carolinas.
Photos captured by U.S. military personnel show forces attempting to recover debris from the balloon on Sunday evening. A large piece of the balloon itself was seen being pulled onto a small boat by sailors.
According to captions of the photos, sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 were deployed to recover the balloon near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Over the weekend, local officials told residents to avoid touching the balloon should pieces of it wash up on shore, after it was shot down by an F-22 Raptor fighter jet on Saturday afternoon.
NORCOM also released images of the F-22 that was used to shoot down the Chinese military craft. The Pentagon previously confirmed that the jet took off from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia to carry out the mission.
Unnamed “senior government sources” told Fox News that once recovered, the balloon will be sent to the FBI’s facility in Quantico, Virginia, for further analysis. The Epoch Times has contacted the bureau for comment.
The head of NORCOM and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) on Monday said the balloon was about 200 feet in height and weighed thousands of pounds.
