Eyes on the sky as Chinese balloon shot down over Atlantic

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — Eyes were locked on the Carolina skies Saturday as a suspected Chinese spy balloon ended its weeklong traverse over the U.S. when it drifted over the Atlantic Ocean and was shot down by a fighter jet.

In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a crowd lining the beach boardwalk cheered as a missile from an F-22 fighter struck the balloon. It quickly deflated and plummeted to the ocean.

“That’s my Air Force right there, buddy!” a person exclaims just after the missile’s impact, in a video taken by tourist Angela Mosley.

Mosley said she came out of a store and saw four fighters circling, then saw the balloon. “One of the fighter jets gets going fast and gets closer to it, and then a boom and we knew it was gone.”

Mosley said no boats appeared to be in the water beneath the balloon as the wreckage fell, but several aircraft arrived soon after. U.S. officials tried to time the operation so they could recover as much debris as possible before it sinks.

The maneuverable balloon had become a major flashpoint in tensions between Washington and Beijing, and President Joe Biden faced pressure from Republicans in Congress to shoot it down. The administration waited until the balloon — about the size of three school buses — was over water because of risks to people on the ground from falling debris.

China said it was a weather research vessel blown off course, a claim rejected by U.S. officials who said the craft had been over areas of Montana where nuclear missiles are siloed.

The balloon had entered the U.S. air defense zone north of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands on Jan. 28, crossed into Canadian airspace two days later and then back into the U.S. over northern Idaho on Tuesday, U.S. defense and military officials said. It was acknowledged by government officials Thursday, a day after commercial flights were temporarily halted at the airport in Billings, Montana, where people on the ground saw the balloon seemingly loitering high above the city.

A video purported to show the balloon brought down in North Carolina Friday afternoon — about the same time people reported seeing it above Missouri.