US officials complete search for debris from downed balloon off South Carolina

The military has concluded efforts to recover debris from what the US government says is a Chinese government surveillance balloon that was shot down off South Carolina.

U.S. Northern Command officials said Friday they completed recovery efforts Thursday and were sending the remaining debris to an FBI lab in Virginia for analysis.

The balloon, which was shot down on February 4, was the first of four objects shot down after flying in US airspace in recent weeks. Three smaller objects, which have not been similarly identified by the US government as surveillance equipment, were later shot down over Canada, Alaska and Lake Huron.