Orange diamonds reported in the sky | Manawatu-Wanganui News | Local News in Manawatu-Wanganui

Mysterious orange lights in the sky south of Wanganui just after midnight on Saturday have more than 20 Wanganui East residents convinced they have seen a fleet of UFOs.

They even called the police, and an officer checked their reports of orange lights shaped like diamonds flying across the sky. The officer, who was unavailable for comment, saw the last of the lights before they disappeared heavenward.

Adam Johnson, of Mawae St, was celebrating his birthday with a barbecue and a large group of friends.

He'd just been out to his garage and as he had been walking back he saw the lights, he said.

"They were amazing. They looked like diamond kites flying everywhere."

He had rushed inside and got everyone out to make sure it wasn't just him seeing the "UFOs".

Guest Cherie Lamb said the lights looked as though they had been flying towards South Beach.

"It was exactly one minute past midnight and it was an amazing sight. There were about 14 lights, I think. I've never ever seen anything like it. We know that it wasn't an Army exercise or anything."

Another Wanganui East resident, Koert Wegman, who was at a different address, said where he lived in Kiwi St people had a pretty good view of the sky because there was not a lot of light pollution.

"There was a number of orange lights, all moving up and then horizontally across the sky. They were in bunches of six at a time, one after the other, then later every single one got to a certain point in the sky and fizzled out."

A spokesman for the Carter Observatory said yesterday that no one there could comment because they were having a "catastrophe" and asked the Chronicle to call back and speak to an astronomer today.