An air-raid warning was declared in Latvia's Ludza and Balvi municipalities on the night of 2-3 November after an unidentified drone was detected in the country's airspace, the Latvian National Armed Forces said.
The alert was issued at 00:10 on 2 November. Fighter jets assigned to NATO's Baltic Air Defence mission were scrambled into the airspace over the Baltic states, while the Latvian Armed Forces additionally sent up interceptor drones in response to the threat.
According to preliminary information, the object that set off the alert came down in the Balvi municipality, in eastern Latvia close to the border with Russia. Ground search operations have since begun in the area to locate and secure the wreckage.
The Latvian National Armed Forces called on the public to keep away from any suspicious objects or debris they might come across. People were asked not to approach or touch such items and to dial the emergency number 112 without delay.
The incident is the latest in a series of drone-related alerts in the Baltic region in recent weeks. On 1 November, the Latvian Armed Forces deployed an interceptor drone after an unidentified unmanned aerial vehicle entered Latvian airspace. That object later left the country's airspace, and the military triggered the interceptor drone's self-destruct mechanism.
A week earlier, on 24 October, the Latvian Armed Forces reported that they had recovered the wreckage of a drone that had crashed on Latvian territory.
A similar case was recorded in neighbouring Lithuania. On 18 October, debris believed to be from a drone that had violated Lithuanian airspace was found in the village of Juodzionys in the Pasvalys district. Lithuania said the drone appeared to have entered its airspace from the territory of Poland.
The Baltic states have remained on heightened alert over airspace violations, with NATO maintaining its air policing mission over Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
