‘Difficult’ search ahead for object shot down over Yukon. Defence minister explains why
Global News
In Yukon, the search area is between Dawson City and Mayo, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says, which are roughly 230 kilometres apart by vehicle, according to Google Maps.
As the search continues for an unidentified object shot down over Yukon by a U.S. fighter jet this past weekend, Canada’s defence minister says it will be “difficult” to find.
Anita Anand told reporters in Brussels, Belgium, Tuesday morning that terrain and weather in the northern territory are posing significant challenges to search and recovery efforts there, while similar operations are underway near Alaska and Lake Huron for objects shot down there over recent days.
“The terrain is extremely rugged. It is extremely remote. The temperature is approximately -25 Celsius there, and there is heavy snow,” Anand said of the conditions in Yukon.
She is in Belgium until Wednesday meeting with NATO defence ministers.
“The recovery effort is difficult, but as I said, we have a number of aircraft in the air and people on the ground. We have RCMP, we have FBI assistance, and we have obviously Canadian Armed Forces members that are assisting with this effort.”
NORAD – the continental air defence network – has been on “heightened alert” after a suspected Chinese spy balloon was shot down off the coast of the Carolinas on Feb. 4, Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, told reporters on Sunday.
That balloon, which China has claimed was a weather aircraft, was shot down two days after American officials first acknowledged it and a week after it first entered U.S. and Canadian airspace.
In the nine days since that takedown, American jets have shot down three “unidentified objects” over Alaska, Yukon and Lake Huron near Ontario and Michigan. The object shot down over Lake Huron likely fell into Canadian waters, American officials have said.