Sighting in Cap-d'Ail, September 6, 2014

From the harbour breakwater, the witness noticed two fairly bright lights stacked vertically, one above the other. They moved erratically, and several other lights then joined them. The witness thought of a release of lanterns. The lights were orange and crossed the sky in under a minute, one after another along the same path, from north to south, toward the sea. The sighting took place on a weekend night.

The wind recorded in Nice was almost nil, but the local wind is a breeze that is very hard to predict. GEIPAN considered that a series of orange lights following the same path on a weekend night strongly suggested Thai lanterns, probably released nearby at the end of a private party. The witness's description matched such lanterns in every respect. The case was therefore classed B: probable sighting of Thai lanterns.