(image from Flightradar24.com of Coast Guard helicopter activity on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2022)
Two Canadian Coast Guard helicopters flew patterns over the waters of Lake Huron near Bruce County Tuesday.
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.
The Canadian Coast Guard is involved in the recovery effort of an object shot out of the sky over Lake Huron by NORAD on Sunday.
Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard Joyce Murray told a brief press conference in Ottawa this afternoon, “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.
Murray added, “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.”
Federal Minister of Defence Anita Anand said on social media “a high-altitude object” was detected and taken down by NORAD aircrafts over Lake Huron, Michigan on Sunday.
It was the fourth object detected in Canadian or American airspace since a suspected Chinese spy balloon was shot down off the U.S. east coast on Feb. 4.
Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MP Alex Ruff and Huron-Bruce MP Ben Lobb were among a group of elected officials bordering Lake Huron who issued a joint-statement yesterday saying the Canadian Armed Forces, in co-operation with the RCMP, the Coast Guard, NORAD and American partners are working to actively recover and investigate the origin of these objects.
“Updates to the public will be provided as more information becomes available,” the statement from four MPs, including Ruff and Lobb says.
Ruff told Bayshore Broadcasting News early Tuesday afternoon, “I believe NORAD did a phenomenal job of doing its job and functioning as the only, sort of, bi-national organization that exists anywhere in the world, from my understanding, at this level. Obviously now, the recovery efforts are in place to try to recover the high-altitude object that was shot down around Lake Huron on the weekend. The RCMP has the lead for that, but they are working in close conjunction with the Canadian Armed Forces, the Canadian Coast Guard, obviously NORAD and US allies on trying to recover that.”
Ruff says there’s a hotline to call if anyone discovers any debris tied to the matter — the RCMP National Security Line at 1-800-420-5405.
*Editor’s note: This story has been updated from an earlier version to add new information.