Sighting in Lanternes, February 14, 2010
Morbihan, Bretagne, France
Sighting on February 14, 2010 in Lanternes (Morbihan, France). GEIPAN identified the phenomenon with certainty: it was a sky lantern (class A).
What happened
Around midnight during the night of 14 February 2010, many witnesses in the Lorient area saw luminous balls passing by. No sound was heard during the sightings, which puzzled the witnesses. Several consistent accounts were sent to a major daily newspaper in western France and to GEIPAN.
After these accounts appeared in the press, the owner of a Vietnamese restaurant came forward. To celebrate Chinese New Year with their guests, they had released about thirty flying lanterns at midnight, during the night of 13 to 14 February 2010. The release had been filmed. The time, the launch site and the direction of travel matched the accounts received by GEIPAN exactly.
The investigation therefore concluded that the witnesses had seen flying lanterns, and the case was classified A (identified).
Account rewritten by SkyUnknown from the investigation report published by GEIPAN (CNES). The original text and case documents are on the official record.
- Date
- February 14, 2010
- Location
- Lanternes · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- A
- Explanation
- Sky lanterns
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 2010-02-02526
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.