[Translation from Die Burger, Cape Town, Friday 31 March 1995.]

Flying saucer stalled truck, says farmer

A flying saucer as wide as the road and between 6 and 9 m high landed in the road in front of him, according to a Coligny farmer. "I know people will dismiss it as rubbish and will think I'm crazy, but I definitely did see it. I _had_ to report it to the police", Mr Jan Pienaar (45) said to our Bloemfontein office. Several people from Bloemfontein alleged that they also saw a UFO yesterday- one even captured it on videotape. Mr Pienaar was travelling at 7.30am on the road between Coligny and Brakspruit when he encountered the flying saucer.

"It suddenly stood right in front of me in the middle of the road. My truck stalled and when I got out something like a magnetic field prevented me from moving. The UFO was about 90 m from me. It stood on three legs and hummed softly, like an electric motor.

"It was beautiful - metallic like stainless steel, but also in a strange way transparent. It also had red, green and purple lights. The shape was like an upside-down bowl with two ridges on top.

"After about three minutes the legs on which it stood slowly lifted from the ground and folded away. I could see a row of small windows on the top ridge, before it rose as fast as a lightning bolt" A police spokesman said the Bloemfontein flying squad was notified about 2.20am yesterday of the UFO. Members of the service saw a bright light and a member of the public captured it onn videotape. According to Mr Matie Hoffmann, physicist and amateur astronomer, it could be a weather balloon, kite or anything with a sharp light."