US recovers sensors from suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot out of the sky

Sensors from the first suspected Chinese spy balloon which was shot down by the US have been recovered from the Atlantic Ocean.

The US military say search crews found "significant debris from the site, including all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces identified".

Members from the FBI are now examining the items which the US claim were used to spy on sensitive military sites.

Officials recovered “large sections of the structure” off the coast of South Carolina.

The first balloon was thought to be the size of three buses
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Around 30-40ft (9-12m) of the balloon’s antennas were among items found, according to CBS.

China claims the balloon was a weather-monitoring object that had blown astray.

Following the first incident, a further three balloons have been shot down over Alaska, Canada's Yukon territory, and Lake Huron on the US-Canada border.

During the Lake Huron strike, the first Sidewinder missile fired by the US F-16 warplane missed.

The second missile, which cost over $400,000 (£330,000) each, hit the target.

Military officials say the unidentified objects have all been smaller than the first balloon.

White House spokesman John Kirby said the balloons did not pose "any direct threat to people on the ground", but were destroyed "to protect our security, our interests and flight safety".

Balloon number one has been described as the size of three buses, while the second was size of a “small car”.

The US shot down the balloon off the South Carolina coast
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Experts say a third object was "cylindrical" and the fourth was said to be "octagonal" with strings attached.

Efforts are under way to collect debris from where the other objects were blown out of the sky.

But Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman Sean McGillis said there was a possibility the fragments from the Yukon and Lake Huron incidents may never be recovered because of their remote locations.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is considering meeting China's most senior diplomat, Wang Yi, later this week at a security conference in Munich.