A Google balloon – designed to provide internet access to rural and remote areas – was crashed in Colombia, terrifying local residents.

The balloon crashed in a field in the central Tolima province, according to reports from BBC News and Fortune.

People thought it was an unidentified flying object. But police have identified the object as an internet balloon developed by X, a Google company.

“We all thought it was a UFO or the remains of a space craft,” residents told a local paper, BBC reported.

In February 2016, another Google wireless balloon crashed in Sri Lanka.

Google Project Loon

The internet balloons are developed by X, formerly Google X, to bring internet connectivity to rural and remote areas.

Project Loon is a network of high-altitude balloons designed to create an aerial wireless network with up to 4G-LTE speeds.

The balloons travel on the edge of space.

Google Balloons Incidents

Here is a list of balloons incidents.

2014

May – A balloon crashed into power lines in Washington.

June – A balloon fell in New Zealand.

November – A balloon crashed in the Karoo desert in South Africa.

2015

April – A balloon crashed in a field near Bragg City, Missouri.

September – A balloon crashed on Chino Hills, California.

2016

February – A balloon crashed in Sri Lanka.

April – A balloon crashed in Dundee, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

April – A balloon crashed in a field in the Ñeembucu department, Paraguay.

August – A balloon landed in Formosa, Argentina.

August – A balloon landed northwest of Madison, South Dakota.

2017

January – A balloon crashed in Bocas del Toro, Panama.

January – Two balloons landed in Mariscala, Uruguay.

March – A balloon crashed in San Luis at Tolima, Colombia.

Google is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL). Google’s internet products include Access, Calico, CapitalG, GV, Nest, Verily, Waymo and X.

Credit: Wikipedia for Google balloons incidents data | Photo Credit: Google