Authorities recover debris from suspected Chinese spy balloon

U.S. authorities have recovered debris from a suspected Chinese spy balloon after combing the waters of the South Carolina coast for wreckage of the aircraft.

The remains of the balloon were successfully recovered from the ocean floor on Thursday, U.S. Northern Command confirmed in a Friday statement.

"Recovery operations concluded Feb. 16 off the coast of South Carolina, after U.S. Navy assets assigned to U.S. Northern Command successfully located and retrieved debris from the high-altitude PRC surveillance balloon shot down Feb. 4, 2023," the statement read. "Final pieces of debris are being transferred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory in Virginia for counterintelligence exploitation."

It remains unclear how much of the balloon's equipment the military was able to successfully recover.

The balloon's trip across the United States attracted considerable public attention and generated outcry against the Biden administration for its decision to allow the balloon to cross the continental U.S. before shooting it down.

The incident has escalated an already significant diplomatic row between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan, Ukraine, digital surveillance, and trade disagreements.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.