NEUQUEN (AN).- Luciano Manrique always thought that people were "talking guff" and the UFOs were bunk. As of yesterday morning, the boy and the majority of the residents of Costa de Reyes no longer think that way. "It was a bunch of lights of all colors, coming out of a circle that had at least 50 meters wide. All together they were the size of three large trees. It was over the river for a while and later ran about a kilometer over to the small farms. There were three of us and we followed it. Then it suddenly shot out something like many lights together and it looked like it was going to explode...we ran away quickly, followed it for too long." Luciano, 18, says he was scared despite the fact of being with his uncles, Carlos and Hilario. Everything began after 12 midnight, with lights that expanded to the very coast itself.

     "I went to bed early. My uncle Carlitos (34) called me by cell phone and I went out. I always thought that UFOs were guff," said the boy from Costa de Reyes, a populated corner of the locality of Vista Alegre. There, between twelve thirty and two in the morning, an enormous light like a flying saucer appeared over one of the islands of the Neuquén River amid the commotion in the neighborhood. Curiosity and intrigue even reached the Police, which appeared en masse to witness the spectacle and, of course, to determine what was going on. "I only asked the police, [they said] that what was seen were blue and yellow lines that came out of that thing," said Antonia Quialpi, a local woman who abandoned the comfort of her bed to see the "Flying Saucer".

     "I woke up on account of the squad cars. Eight patrol cars arrived in front of the race part. I looked at the commotion through the window, since when these things happen, the police can seize you as an eyewitness, and I'm not up to those transactions," said another neighbor who lives on the access road to the Costa de Reyes jockey club.

     The object's presence caused the appearence of Walter Cofre, Neuquen's chief of police, and of police personnel that reported in from the provincial capital. The Air Force Command in Neuquen was summoned from the police prefecture itself.

     "We went after two in the morning and the personnel remained until dawn. We saw nothing and stayed until dawn. People claim having seen those lights but we could not ratify it," maintained Santiago Romero, the director of the Neuquen Airport.

     Costa de Reyes is located some two kilometers from the limits of Vista Alegre and its name has nothing to do with royalty. There is a resident surnamed Reyes who occupied a good segment on the coast in a place where barricades are being built to keep the Neuquen River from causing flood damage. "Nothing like this had ever happened before," said Antonia Quilapi, the historic resident of the riverside wilderness.

     Yesterday, the talk of the town was the spectacle that everyone claimed to have seen in the sky. What was it? Many lights were coming and going to and from a round large object. "One of our cameras arived only five minutes late,according to what we were told. I don't know if there was something, but everyone was up in arms," said Lucio Piancola, a Channel 7 producer.

     Residents say that the object vanished rigth above the house of former town intendant Ernesto Meschini after having been suspended over the river. From the get-go, the possibility that it could have been a Police chopper was dismissed. Also dismissed is that any photos may have been taken from there. If the event replays itself, residents are geared up for a safari and claim that they will photograph the UFO in order to keep it from being "unidentified".

* Translation (c) 2005. Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology (IHU).

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