JIZAN, 10 June 2003 — Jizan Governor Prince Muhammad ibn Nasser has denied that an unidentified object that reportedly fell to earth in the region was part of a spy plane.
In an interview with Okaz newspaper, the prince said the object had merely been a balloon. “No unidentified object landed in Jizan, and there was no spy plane taking pictures. It was only a big balloon,” he said.
The prince said elderly and uneducated people had mistaken the balloon for a UFO.
Newspaper reports had stated, citing experts, that the object observed by a number of residents in Arraith town, about 220 km northeast of Jizan, on Monday could have been part of a spy plane that had encroached on Saudi air space.
Arraith Governor Abdul Rahman Al-Osaimi said he went to inspect the site of the reported crash and found nothing untoward. “There was no trace of anything that landed there,” he said.
Other eyewitnesses described seeing a child’s toy balloon, the paper added.
