Sighting in Les Avirons, December 21, 2014

A witness sitting on their balcony facing the ocean noticed a glow floating above the water in the evening. Through binoculars, they made out a dark object whose lower part flickered with an orange light. They took photographs, but these did not show what they saw through the binoculars. A little over an hour after the observation began, the object had glided away silently toward the southwest.

GEIPAN judged the account to be fairly consistent: it was detailed and came with two original photographs, though it rested on a single witness. The investigation noted several points: the phenomenon was close to the horizon, it looked like a ship, a green starboard navigation light was visible, reflections, possibly from the decks, appeared on the water, and the line of sight pointed toward a busy shipping area. The phenomenon was therefore ordinary, both in appearance and in behavior. The case was classified B: it was very probably a boat sailing off Réunion Island.