ARRAS (62) 25.09.2011

On 4 December 2011, GEIPAN received an emailed ground-observation questionnaire describing an orange, wide, flat saucer-like light seen at Arras (62) on the night of Saturday 24 to Sunday 25 September 2011. The source calls the delay nearly 4 months and says a gendarmerie statement was no longer possible; the dates supplied instead imply a little over 2 months. The sighting lasted 10–15 minutes. Another witness was present initially, then 3 more people saw its final phase as it moved away. None of these additional observers submitted an account. A helicopter, probably departing the hospital, had merely drawn the main witness's attention to the sky; the summary describes the object as near it. GEIPAN favoured a sky lantern but found the supporting evidence insufficient: wind direction was imprecise and the description of recession remained open to interpretation. It assessed the case as low in strangeness and weakly supported by a single, imprecise account, and classified it C for insufficient information or further testimony.