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The article below was published in the daily newspaper Var-Matin - République, France, le 9 décembre 1973.
A UFO (unidentified flying object) was seen in Carteret (Manche) last Sunday, according to the statements of two fishermen from the Port, we learned yesterday.
As they were going, around 5:30 a.m., to pick up lines they had set the evening before, Mr. Georges Jean, 44, and his son Noël, 18, saw, they say, a intense light coming from an object they could not define, placed on the beach a few hundred meters from where they were.
The phenomenon would have lasted about 45 minutes, but paralyzed by fear, the two fishermen would not have dared to approach. The most fanciful guesses were put forward among local residents, especially as on Friday atomic radiation protection equipment was discovered on a nearby beach, along with an underwater buzzer covered in inscriptions in English language.
New hypotheses were then formulated and there is even talk of an intervention by the counterintelligence services.
When questioned, a gendarmerie officer simply told the press that the fact of having found used protective equipment and a sound signal "is nothing extraordinary".
"You can find everything on a beach," he added. He pointed out that the gendarmerie had opened an investigation, but that it was always the case in similar circumstances.
