Sighting in Marseille, June 12, 2009

At 11:10 p.m., the witness noticed lights overhead that marked out a large, black, triangular mass. It was moving along a north-to-south path, and no sound was heard. The witness described rows of star-like lights forming a black triangle, which drifted slowly toward the sea. No other witness account was collected.

The investigation considered that the black triangle may simply have been an optical illusion created by the alignment of the points of light, which could have been Thai lanterns. Their movement could be explained by the wind alone, which was light and from the northwest. However, the descriptions of the lights and of their motion were not precise enough for the GEIPAN to confirm this hypothesis. The case was therefore classified C: insufficient information to reach a conclusion.