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This article was published in the newspaper El Diario de Paraná, Argentina, on June 21, 2002.
An unidentified flying object (UFO) was seen over the tourist complex known as Las Leñas by dozens of visitors, tourists and operators of the Mendoza resort. The object was a short distance away and multiple eyewitness reports coincide.
Visual contact with the strange object occurred twice around 8:00 and 20:30 hours yesterday over Cerro Los Fosiles, a natural graveyard of extinguished marine creatures which forms part of the exclusive Las Leñas ski resort.
"Several people claim having seen a strange luminous effect. This is the overall remark circulating in Las Leñas," explained one of the workers of the Track Service to the Noticias Argentinas agency, requesting anonymity. "The phenomenon occured near the part of the hill known as La Antena to the locals, since the internal radio commuications transmitter for the complex is located there."
"It's a luminous phenomenon, not an object. It's a light that runs down the sides," explained another worker of the Mendozan resort.
One of the privileged witnesses of the curious incident was a machine operator who, in the early hours of the evening, was working one of the snow rollers that press the ski trails for skiiers. The man was carrying out his duties near the base of the chairlift of the Vulcano trail when he noticed to his amazement that "an intense multicolored light" was moving some 600 meters away, causing mechanical trouble aboard the snow roller.
Frightened and amazed, the machinist got down from his vehicle and ran toward the Las Leñas lodge, where he informed his superiors of the phenomenon, which he did not hesitate to qualify as a UFO.
Over the next several hours, the ski resort's management received similar accounts from drivers who were not at the base of the tourist resort at the time, but driving along adjacent roads.
An intense colorful light was seen over Cerro Los Fosiles (DyN).
