An account in Loire, France

On July 25, 2009, around 7 p.m., several witnesses observed the passage of a white flying object. One of the intrigued witnesses described a white ball moving silently through the valley from north to south at a steady speed and altitude. The object suddenly gained altitude while accelerating and immediately disappeared into the sky. The slow movement of a white ball, without noise, the dimensions of the object, the trajectory through the valley, and then the acceleration probably due to being caught by the wind suggest the likely observation of a balloon (of the weather balloon type, as described by the witness).