Sighting in Wasquehal, January 19, 2014

At about 8:30 p.m., a motorist driving on an expressway noticed three orange-coloured luminous shapes moving slowly in the sky. The driver passed beneath them and saw that they formed a sharp triangle.

The wind that evening was very light and variable, blowing from the south to the east. The behaviour of the objects was consistent with objects carried by the wind, and their colour recalled the flame of Thai lanterns. However, the triangular shape the witness described did not seem to fit that hypothesis well. GEIPAN attached to the file a photo of three Thai lanterns that might look like what the witness saw.

GEIPAN rated the testimony as of medium to low consistency. The witness was driving and watching through the windscreen, and because they were moving themselves, it was very difficult to estimate how the objects were really moving. No other witness came forward to GEIPAN, even though the area is densely populated. Without cross-checking that could either confirm or rule out the Thai lantern hypothesis, the case was classified C, for lack of information.