On Friday afternoon, three people infront of the Boccalatte refuge (2804m), saw a large, dark coloured burning sphere, about 500 meters above their heads. Flames were coming out of it, which were extinguished as the object fell to the ground.
The area where the sphere fell is fairly large, and for the moment impossible to reach, due to bad weather and poor visibility. Therefore, no search has yet been undertaken, not least because no request has been made to do so, neither in Courmayeur nor in Chamonix.
The mountain rescue teams are on standby until the weather improves. It seems as if the mystery of the "sphere of fire" will not be solved until conditions allow a helicopter to fly over the scene.
The idea that the mysterious object could be a small plane or even a hot air balloon has been excluded, since the wind direction at the time was from France towards Italy.
The most likely hypothesis would be that of a weather-balloon falling to the ground.
