- PARIS (Reuters) - France's National Centre for Space Studies (CNES)
said on Friday it was investigating a reported sighting of an unidentified
flying object in the Alpine village of Voreppe after a witness videotaped
the phenomenon. The videotape shows ``a dark form that looks like it is
floating and then moves away in a curious way,'' CNES expert Jean-Jacques
Velasco told Reuters after viewing the videotape and conducting initial
interviews with witnesses. He said four individuals in three different
groups had reported seeing the object over a period of several minutes.
They said they initially sighted it perched on the top of a tree at dusk
on September 8. Two of the individuals were quite near the tree while a
third, about 50 metres (yards) away, had the presence of mind to quickly
run into his house, grab a video camera, and film the mysterious object
as it flew off, he said. Based on the videotape and preliminary witness
accounts, Velasco said the object appeared to be ``a round disc, four to
five metres across, with a few protuberances coming out of it and a red
ring around its base.'' The space centre said in a statement it was beginning
its investigation by attempting to verify that the tape was genuine. It
was also trying to check out the witnesses and examine the tree where the
object was said to have perched, whose leaves would be tested for signs
of elevated levels of electromagnetic radiation. Asked how many UFO probes
opened by the CNES had been closed without an explanation, he responded,
``You could count them on the fingers of one hand.''
|
