Montana Officials Confirm No Explosion Occurred Within State After Unsubstantiated Video Emerges

The Chinese Foreign Ministry stated the balloon was part of a civilian meteorological research effort; however, the department has since commented that "some politicians and media in the United States used the incident as a pretext to attack and smear China."

The city government of Billings, Montana, confirmed late Friday that no explosion occurred within the state after a single unsubstantiated video began to circulate widely across social media.

Officials stated in a social media post that after conducting a review with the office of Gov. Greg Gianforte and the Montana Disaster and Emergency Services (MDES) that "there have not been any explosions in, around, or across Montana."

"They are aware of the video and it cannot be substantiated," the release concluded.

The clarification by officials came not long after reports surfaced of an explosion erupting over the Billings airspace, citing a video shared by Twitter user Dolly Moore.

In addition to the review carried out by the governor's office and the MDES, local media reported law enforcement officials had not received any complaints from residents in the area. In fact, Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder said his department has been unable to get in contact with the video's poster.

Questions were further raised by the unsubstantiated video after trackers indicated the balloon appeared to have been transiting the airspace over Kansas when the video emerged online.

Early after the report, Congressman Matt Rosendale in a tweet said he reached out to the Commanding Officer at Malmstrom Air Force base for details. The emergence of the video comes after some critics wondered why the US did not shoot down the first balloon.

Reports of the explosion also came as the Pentagon reported a second surveillance balloon had been spotted over Latin America. The Defense Department did not specify its exact location.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has confirmed the balloon over the northern US belongs to China, but underscored it is a civilian device used for meteorological research. It was further explained the two-bus-sized ballon was thrown off-course.