Sighting in Embrun, December 7, 2019

On a Saturday evening, between 8:40 and 8:45 pm, the witness, who was at home, was alerted by a dull noise that sounded like several fighter jets. They stepped onto their balcony, which faced the town centre, and briefly saw a "fireball" that then disappeared. When the noise grew louder a second time, two more balls appeared in the same spot. They were yellow with a red border, and left no trail or trace.

The investigation first considered military aircraft. The Centre National des Opérations Aériennes confirmed that several aircraft were operating nearby, and two of them were heading in the direction the witness had indicated between 8:40 and 8:42 pm. However, they were much farther away than the witness reported and were flying toward Embrun, not toward Mont Guillaume, so the witness could not have seen them.

The Chinese-lantern explanation, in the form of Thai lanterns, proved stronger. The account matches their usual features: groups of light points, round or slightly oval shapes, visibility lasting from a few seconds to a few minutes, bright light, and mainly orange and red colours. A Saturday night is a typical time for festive lantern releases, and lanterns going out as their fuel runs out would explain the disappearance. Ground winds recorded by four mountain weather stations were light, averaging 0 to 7 km/h, which is compatible with releases. Wind direction can vary considerably in a mountainous, built-up area, and the observation was too short for the witness to judge the objects' heading precisely.

The GEIPAN concluded that the strangeness came from two separate phenomena: the noise of fighter jets manoeuvring in the area, and luminous balls most probably identifiable as sky lanterns. The case was classified A.