Sighting in Marseille, March 31, 2013

At about 9:20 p.m., three people saw an orange, very bright object moving silently across the sky. It came from the west and passed over the house where they were. It then turned to the right and disappeared toward the southeast. Only one of the three witnesses gave an account to the investigation.

The witness placed the path between Salon-de-Provence and Aubagne-Cassis, meaning from the northwest toward the southeast. This matches the wind direction recorded at Marignane that evening. The object moved in a straight line, silently, for a few minutes, and went with the wind. Its orange color and the fact that it was a public holiday evening also pointed to a Thai lantern (flying paper lantern).

The case showed little strangeness, so the GEIPAN did not try to find whoever released the lantern. It classified the case B, a probable Thai lantern.