Sighting in Awala-Yalimapo, May 5, 2012

At around 10 p.m., a witness on a beach noticed some luminous phenomena that puzzled them: several red spheres were drifting slowly and silently across the sky. The witness photographed three of the objects.

The investigation relied on several objective points: the red color of the objects in the photographs, their slow, simultaneous movement along a rising path, little or no wind, and a day of the week when lanterns are often released. A lantern seller had also recently set up business in the department. GEIPAN concluded that the three objects were very probably sky lanterns, also called Thai lanterns, and classified the case as B.