Technology
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Social media users are currently musing over an unusual video that appears to show numerous glowing lights cruising above the South China Sea.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.The 53-second video (below) was filmed by a pilot on the morning of November 24 at a height of approximately 11,887 meters (39,000 feet) above the South China Sea, as per the tracking website UFO Stalker. As the sun rises, the film first shows nine lights moving across the sky in three organized rows. The closest object then disappears, before three more objects reappear on the outside of the formation.
“I don’t know what that is. That is some weird sh*t,” a person is heard saying in the video.
After the lights disappear one-by-one, they simply add: “Gone!”
There’s been no official statement yet on the sighting, but it's fired up the rumor mills on social media. While some are speculating that it could be some kind of military exercise involving flares or merely a reflection on the cockpit’s glass, others are suggesting it could be an extraterrestrial unidentified flying object (UFO).
“At first I thought cockpit glass reflection … but no,” one person tweeted. “It’s not consistent with that. Now I’m thinking, could it have been a military countermeasure exercise?”
“Considering that there are billions of Galaxies which contain millions of stars and planets,” another added, “it only stands to reason that there are others out there less intelligent than humans (which doesn’t take much) and way more intelligent than us.”
One of the most popular explanations behind UFOs is that they are experimental military technology. The South China Sea has gained a huge geopolitical significance, not least because a huge share of the world's maritime shipping passes through it. Given that the area has recently seen a variety of territory disputes, it wouldn't be too surprising to see a military presence in the area. That said, even US authorities have started to take reports of UFOs seriously. Recent years have seen a number of high-profile sightings gather significant media attention and even confirmation by the Pentagon.
Earlier this year, another bizarre sighting was recorded above the Chinese city of Shanghai by multiple witnesses. A Youtuber set out to investigate this eerie sight and came to the conclusion that the "UFO" was, in fact, just the shadow of a building projected onto the city's clouds.
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