04 September 2020

An unidentified flying object (UFO) parachuted into dense Congo jungle to the confusion of local authorities, until a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet identified the device as an internet balloon.

Images shared on social media showed people inspecting a large silver-coloured contraption fitted with solar panels and wires, which had landed in the tropical forest of Bas-Uele province in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), trailing a large deflated balloon.

Locals told security after the object fell to earth around 1pm local time on Monday 24 August, Bas-Uele Governor Valentin Senga told Reuters after visiting the site around 10 km (6 miles) south of the provincial capital Buta.

“I’m not able to say exactly what kind of device I observed,” he said. “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.”