Mexican Air Force Pilots Film Unidentified Objects

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

(8:10 AM ET) (12:10 GMT)

The Associated Press

"This is historic news. Hundreds of videos of UFOs exist, but none had the backing of the armed forces of any country. [...] The armed forces don't perpetuate frauds."

Unidentified lights appear on a videotape taken by Mexican air force pilots.

Image Credit: The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY, Mexico -- AP
Mexican Air Force pilots filmed 11 unidentified objects in the skies over southern Campeche state, a Defense Department spokesman confirmed Tuesday.

A videotape made widely available to the news media on Tuesday shows the bright objects, some sharp points of light and others like large headlights, moving rapidly in what appears to be a late-evening sky.

The lights were filmed on March 5 by pilots using infrared equipment. They appeared to be flying at an altitude of about 3,500 meters (11,480 feet), and allegedly surrounded the Air Force jet as it conducted routine anti-drug trafficking vigilance in Campeche. Only three of the objects showed up on the plane's radar.

"Was I afraid? Yes. A little afraid because we were facing something that had never happened before," said radar operator Lt. German Marin in a taped interview made public Tuesday.

"I couldn't say what it was ... but I think they're completely real," added Lt. Mario Adrian Vazquez, the infrared equipment operator. Vazquez insisted that there was no way to alter the recorded images.

(More: CNN.com / World)

2004 © The Associated Press.

Dan