LAKE HURON—While a search for debris from an unidentified high-altitude object that had been shot down by the United States over Lake Huron last Sunday, February 12 has been suspended by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and American partners, a Providence Bay resident says he saw what could possibly be some of the debris on power wires in the Grimsthorpe area south of Providence Bay and has photos of debris that he feels could quite possibly be some of the material that Canadian and US partners had been searching for. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said that the objects shot down over North America in the past 10 days appear to not be part of China’s spy balloon operation.
Local resident Daniel Dragisic told The Expositor on Thursday, “I saw and took pictures of what could be some of the crap that was shot down. The stuff I was able to get a picture of looks like a junk piece of rigging, with hooks and connectors (and was located at the two bridges on Beaver Road about two kilometres east of Grimsthorpe Road. It certainly didn’t get there itself. The first piece I found on early morning Monday, massive white wire cabley stuff was on power lines on Grimsthorpe Road. It was a big piece of material.”
“The big piece of debris that was caught up on the wires on Grimsthorpe Road had been removed by the time I returned Monday afternoon with my camera,” said Mr. Dragisic. “But the other one I found on Beaver Road is still there, that I know of, and I took a photo of it on the power lines.”
Mr. Dragisic explained “I know several boats were out looking for debris from the (unidentified high-altitude object). Yes, I had heard a big bang on Sunday that came out of the sky, but no I didn’t see anything.”
On February 16 the Royal Canadian Mounted Police released a statement, “recent air incidents in Yukon and Lake Huron emphasized the importance of collaborative work between Canadian and American partners. The RCMP is dedicated to finding answers in order to assist both national investigations.”
“After conducting an extensive search in the Lake Huron area with the assistance of the Canadian Coast Guard and other domestic and international partners, a decision was reached to suspend the search due to several factors including deteriorating weather and the low probability of recovery,” the RCMP explained.
Bayshore Broadcasting reported on Tuesday, February 14 that two Canadian Coast Guard helicopters flew patterns over the waters of Lake Huron near Bruce County that day.
Online flight trackers showed a Canadian Coast Guard Bell 429 GlobalRanger helicopter was weaving from the shoreline and out to the waters of Lake Huron, slowly progressing northbound and southbound in an area between Sauble Beach and Kincardine.
Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard Joyce Murray told a brief press conference in Ottawa on February 14, “we have the Canadian Coast Guard Ship the Griffon that is in the search zone area. The (CCGS) Samuel Risley is on the way as well, and the Samuel Risley has underwater equipment that can assist with the search when debris is found.”
The CCGS Griffon could be seen in online marine trackers, traversing the area in a similar pattern to the helicopters Tuesday.
Ms. Murray said, “Two helicopters have also been aiding in the search and they’ve done three flyovers and at this point we have not located the debris.”
US president Joe Biden said last Thursday that the United States has no indication that the three objects shot down in North American airspace recently are tied to China’s spy balloon program and are likely from private entities.
President Biden told CNN News, “we don’t yet know exactly what these three objects were but nothing right now suggests they were related to China’s spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles from any other country. The intelligence community’s current assessment is that these three objects were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research.”
Last week, Canadian officials were candid about the difficult task of recovering debris from high-altitude objects shot down over Canada and the US, admitting it could still take days or weeks and there is no guarantee the debris will be found.
