Date:
July 15, 2002
Location: Campamento Vespucio, Argentina
An
unidentified flying object (UFO) of large size and intense
luminosity was seen in the town of Campamento Vespucio.
The event caused a sensation in this community. The object
was of the size and shape of a rugby ball. The phones
stopped working and the electrical systems of several
cars were left for dead.
Source:
Scott Corrales - 'El Tribuno' de Salta - Argentina July
21, 2002 - Rense.com
[go
to original source]
An
unidentified flying object (UFO) of large size and intense
luminosity was seen on Monday between 20:50 and 21:30
hrs. in the town of Campamento Vespucio, seven kilometers
west of General Mosconi and approximately 350 km to the
north of the Saltan capital. The event caused a sensation
in this community, which not long ago, was the hydrocarbon-producing
capital of the Argentinean northwest and which is half-empty
after the privatization of the state-owned Yacimientos
Petroliferos Fiscales (YPF) oil company. The presence
of the object, visible to the unaided eye over the forested
tropical hills of the San Antonio Range, which acts as
the region's natural border, was of the size and shape
of a rugby ball.
Residents
of Vespucio took to the streets to look at the object,
which remained motionless for 40 minutes before vanishing
suddenly toward the west at "prodigious"
speed, according to witnesses. A housewife who chose to
remain anonymous said "it was oddly beautiful.
The intensity of the light was enormous although it produced
no fear whatsoever." The same woman added that
"we were all marvelled at first, but got nervous
when we realized that along with the phenomenon, the phones
stopped working and the electrical systems of several
cars were left for dead, making it impossible to start
them or turn on their lights."
Residents
of the Tablillas area, some 3 km inside the canyon where
Campamento Vespucio is located and consequently closer
to the UFO, were not surprised by the event, since they
said "we are used to seeing this singular luminous
events since 1999, and the fact remains that whenever
they appear, they cause failures in motor and electrical
systems." Only a few families live in this place,
all of them former workers and employees of YPF who chose
to remain in the area after privatization, which can be
reached along a tortuous dirt road leading to the Pan
American oil company operations. The road also leads to
other gas and oil wells which currently register no services
whatsoever.
The
Olima family is among the ones dwelling at Tabillas. Made
up by the couple and 13 children - eight of which live
in their parents' house and whose ages range between 10
and 24 - were privileged witnesses to the event. Gabriel
Olima, 22, a former engineering student who was unable
to continue his studies due to economic hardship and who
now works alongside his father in a workshop set up inside
the house and is also a beekeper, said "we've
seen these UFOs many times since 1999. People didn't believe
us for fear or out of skepticism, but the apparitions
are so customary that we've been able to determine that
they're visible between July and August. Not before, not
after." "On one occasion, two persons
from a Buenos Aires TV Channel came and we brought them
over to film [the phenomenon]. They did the work but for
some reason never exhibited it publicly. While filming,
they seemed frightened and one of them told me that the
shining "thing" was nothing known, that it was
"very strange". They never came back."
On
the other hand, Fabian Olima, 24, said that "this
or these objects seem to have a timetable, because they
always become visible between 20 and 21:00 hours. They're
there, they stay for 40 minutes and then vanish at high
speed." Gabriel said that on one occasion, when
"the thing" appeared behind a distant
hill no more than 4 km from his house, he decided to have
a closer look. "We wanted to see what it was,
what it was all about. We went out with my dad to reach
the other hill, running along some trails, but it suddenly
built up speed and vanished like a bullet."
"What's
changed," Fabian stressed, "is the distance
involved. Before, we would see it far away, but on Monday
night, it was closer than ever." "Maybe they're
becoming less shy and will come closer a little each day,"
joked other members of the Olima family.
Translation
(C) 2002. Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology.
Special thanks to Gloria Coluchi.
Source:
http://www.ufoevidence.org/cases/case30.htm