Google's Internet balloon 'crashes' in Sri Lanka test flight

February 18, 2016 21:28

A Google balloon, part of the company's high-speed Internet service known as "Project Loon", crashed in a Sri Lankan tea plantation during its maiden test flight, local police said today.

Villages found the deflated balloon with its electronic equipment in the island's central tea-growing region of Gampola on Wednesday night, an officer told AFP.

"Tea plantation workers found it crashed in the plantation. They picked up the pieces and brought it to the station," the officer, who is not authorised to speak with media, told AFP by phone.

However Sri Lanka's Information and Communication Technology Agency, which is coordinating the tests with Google, described the landing as controlled and scheduled.

"Google loon balloon safely landed under standard operating procedures in #lka as a part of the test," ICTA chief Muhunthan Canagey said on Twitter.

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