Sighting in Ham, August 26, 2016

Early in the morning, at about 4:54 a.m., a witness was standing on their terrace under a clear sky. They saw three luminous discs giving off an opaque white light and moving from north to south in a triangular formation. The sighting lasted only 4 to 5 seconds, and no sound was heard. Only one account was collected.

GEIPAN found that the description, in both appearance and colour, fit a release of lanterns in every respect. The trajectory matched the wind direction that night, which was blowing toward the south according to the Infoclimat records. A night in August is also a time when festive events of this kind are common. In addition, the gendarmerie investigation reported a similar luminous phenomenon seen during the night of 27 to 28 August 2016, at around 1:30 a.m. GEIPAN therefore classed the case as B: probable sighting of Thai lanterns.