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This article was published in the daily newspaper The Winnipeg Sun, Canada, Monday, April 19, 2004.
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By NATALIE PONA, STAFF REPORTER
The truth is out there. And it may have zoomed over Winnipeg last month. Three air traffic controllers at Winnipeg International Airport were among the witnesses who reported seeing an unidentified flying object streak thorough the sky on March 28 about 9:45 p.m.
"I don't think this was the 5:15 from Mars on an approach, but certainly we have to classify it as unexplained. We don't have any evidence to classify this as an extraterrestrial. It's puzzling," said Chris Rutkowski, a Winnipeg UFO researcher.
Didn't appear on radar
Rutkowski interviewed the three air traffic controllers who saw the object.
"It sounded a little like an airplane ... but they were absolutely positive (it wasn't)," he said, adding the object did not appear on the airport's radar.
One eyewitness, who asked to remain anonymous, said the object looked like a bright red point of light travelling low in the southwestern sky.
"I don't particularly believe in Martians but I have an open mind. There is something else out there," the man said.
It seemed to be flying at more than 400 kilometres per hour from west to east, he added.
"It was kind of angling away," he said.
He watched the object for 30 seconds, until it imploded into a smaller white light then disappeared.
Another witness, who also asked not to be named, said he had no idea what the object was.
"I've seen a lot of things and we can't find an explanation for this," he said.
Rutkowski said there were nine reports of UFOs that were similar in description from across Canada that same night.
"So in this case, now we have very qualified multiple observers," he said.
There are about 700 documented UFO sightings each year in Canada, he said.
Rutkowski is hoping to locate more people who saw the object.
