World of the Bizarre

'Project Loon' sparks UFO scare over the Congo

By T.K. Randall
August 27, 2020 ·  2 comments

Loon balloons have been mistaken for UFOs before. Image Credit: YouTube / Project Loon Locals in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Bas-Uele province were left perplexed this week after they went to investigate the wreckage of a large object found nestled in the dense jungle foliage.

Footage and photographs of the spectacle quickly made their way onto Twitter, sparking a great deal of debate and speculation over exactly what it was that had crashed there.

"An unidentified flying object fell yesterday near the town of Buta (close to Kisangani) in Bas-Uele," user @kambale wrote. "It looks like a communications equipment. @planet4589 is quoted on InterviewCD saying it's not a satellite. Does anyone know what it is and who it belongs to?"

Even local Governor Valentin Senga seemed to be unaware of the nature of the object.

"I'm not able to say exactly what kind of device I observed," he told Reuters."What intrigues us is that neither the intelligence services nor the local aviation authorities claim to have any information on the overflight of Congolese air space by this aircraft."

As it turns out, the mysterious 'UFO' was in fact a high-altitude balloon that had been launched by Project Loon - an initiative designed to bring Internet access to the world's most rural areas.

It's not the first time one of these balloons has been mistaken for otherworldy visitors either - back in 2012 one of them went rogue over Kentucky and it took a whole year for Google to come clean.

You can check out footage of the Democratic Republic of Congo crash site below.


Source: Fox News | Comments (2)

Tags: UFO, Loon