Flying object was spotted over Andaman and Nicobar Island in 2022

Before authorities could determine the balloon's origin and reach a decision on whether to bring it down, the object drifted southwest into the ocean, they said

About a year ago, locals on a strategic Indian island chain that sits closer to Singapore than New Delhi spotted an unusual object in the sky: a giant balloon similar to the one the US downed earlier this month. 
 

At the time, nobody really knew what it was. As hundreds of people on the Andaman and Nicobar islands ventured outside and snapped photos of the unusual flying object that lit up social media, India’s defense establishment became alarmed. 

The islands are close to India’s missile testing areas in the Bay of Bengal and sit near the Malacca Strait, a key bottleneck