Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), commonly called 'flying saucers', are in the news again. Several UFO sightings have been reported from various parts of Sri Lanka over the last few weeks.

"These sightings have been confirmed by a group of keen observers," said Prof. Chandana Jayaratne of the University of Colombo, who has been investigating reports of such sightings, told a press conference held in the Colombo University.

One of the observers, Sanjeeva Bandara, has even written books on UFOs.

"More than 100 villagers have seen the UFO," an observer said. "In general we cannot consider these stories as being fabricated. We camped near the Parakrama Samudra on June 15. We didn't see anything on our first day but on the second day around 11.30 pm we saw a blue-white light.

"The light beam is so unlike any of other light beam we have seen before. The light beams rotated, suddenly disappeared and reappeared a few seconds later from a place 300-400m away from the place it was initially. A few seconds later it again disappeared.

"We camped near the Parakrama Samudraya. Dense jungle stretched out to the far end and the light beam came from the jungle. Therefore, we could not go out to investigate. Out of our preliminary investigations it turned out to be an object capable of emitting 'V' shaped beam of light of intense illumination.

"The villagers including an Advanced Level student told us the flying object is capable of moving at a very high velocity and when it is travelling at a lower height it made a sound similar to a sound made by a bee. And it could change its direction to avoid colliding with trees. For three consecutive days we observed the same UFO," the observers.