This article was published in the daily newspaper The Gravesend Reporter, of Sidcup, Kent, U-K., April 26, 2007.
by Oliver Good
Residents who all witnessed UFOs on the same night have come forward to report their sightings, and the incident is now being investigated by the Ministry of Defence.
The massive response follows an appeal in last week's Reporter, by a young couple who thought they were 'going mad' after a close encounter.
Claims made by Stacy Shaw, 19, and Gavin Drummond, 22, that they saw 'burning balls of fire', before midnight on Saturday (15) have been echoed by other witnesses.
Stories given by nine residents share striking similarities, all report seeing moving lights in the sky at almost the exact same time.
Now a UFO expert who also saw the objects has asked the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for an explanation. Frank Salmon, 46, from Kings Drive, Gravesend, is a member of organisation UFOMEK (UFO Monitoring, East Kent).
He said: "When I first saw them, I thought they were meteorites.But then my daughter said, 'they're coming up from the ground daddy!'"
Sightings have been reported in Singlewell, Northfleet andGravesend. Many residents saw the mysterious floating objectsfrom their gardens, and many followed them in cars. They arealso reported to have been moving in organised formations.
Mr Salmon added: "We have contacted the MoD, they will do aproper investigation and be able to tell us if there was anyunusual air-traffic that night."
One possible explanation is that the moving objects were floating Chinese lanterns, perhaps used as part of a celebrationearlier that day.
Resident Malcolm Eggleton, 70, said: "I saw them in the sky on Saturday when I was leaving a party, and I saw something similar about a year ago.
"I was in my garden on the edge of Cobham and under close inspection they looked like floating Chinese lanterns."
Such inventions do exist, made of paper and working like mini-hot air balloons; they are sometimes used for Chinese weddings. However UFOMEK member Frank Salmon doubts this theory.
He added: "The MoD should be able to tell us if there were any Chinese weddings in the area, but I think these looked to big to be lanterns."
The theory is also doubted by residents who claim the UFOs shot in the air at high speeds, unlike a hot air balloon-style object.
Council officers were unable to confirm whether any such illuminations had been used that day.
