Sighting in Ruaudin, April 18, 2015

Around 11:30 p.m., a driver on the road at night was alerted by their son, sitting in the back, to a red light in the sky. Looking in the rearview mirror, the driver saw six or seven glowing balls, reddish-orange in colour, moving in formation and seeming to follow the car. The driver stopped and watched them move across the sky. They vanished one after another until only a single ball remained. The witness had time to take a few photos.

GEIPAN concluded that orange balls crossing the sky over a few minutes on a weekend night strongly suggested Thai lanterns, probably released nearby at the end of a private party. The movement was from north-east to north-west, which is consistent with the strong north-east wind recorded at Le Mans on Météociel. The case was classified B: probable observation of Thai lanterns.