Incident: 17 June 2025, reportedly around 21:00 local; recording time not independently verified. Sources reviewed 13 November 2026. Historical case addition; publication date is not the incident date.
A report from northern Chile
SEFAA case 2120 concerns a white light reportedly seen by two people from the Spence mining operation at about 21:00 on 17 June 2025. The agency’s report, resolved on 17 September, describes a roughly fifteen-second WhatsApp video. Requests on 18 June and 8 July for the original recording and a more precise position received no response.
What compression removed
The investigators found that the forwarded file had lost capture-date information and had reduced image resolution. They compared the reported movement with traffic in the area and considered an aviation origin, but could not establish the circumstances firmly enough to identify a specific flight. The final classification was an administratively closed account, or Relato, rather than a resolved object.
Closed is not the same as explained
That distinction is why UKPX places this entry under Insufficient evidence rather than Closed (Explained). An organisation can end work because essential material is unavailable. The decision describes the investigation’s practical limit; it does not turn an untested hypothesis into an identification.
Likewise, an apparent movement in a compressed image needs care. Image processing and a changing luminous trace can affect the outline that a viewer follows from frame to frame. Without the original, an analyst cannot recover detail that was discarded during forwarding.
Timing determines which comparisons are meaningful
A traffic comparison is useful only if the recording time, observer position and viewing direction are reliable enough. An aircraft present somewhere in a broad region is not necessarily the source of a particular light. Conversely, an incomplete match at a reported time does not establish an extraordinary object when that time cannot be verified.
The source discusses possible institutional aviation. UKPX retains that as a considered possibility, not a confirmed military interception or a demonstration of unusual performance. The reviewed document cannot supply a secure physical speed, range or three-dimensional track.
Assessment and location
This is a 2025 reported incident with an explicit evidential qualification on its date and time. The map uses a broad reference in the named commune. It does not provide a route into the mine or identify a witness’s work position. Reopening the analysis would depend principally on original audiovisual material and a reliable account of when and where it was made.
Map reference: Broad Sierra Gorda settlement reference within the named commune. Not the mine entrance, the observer position, the object or permission to enter restricted mine land.
Sources and review trail
DGAC / SEFAA, case 2120. Eight-page official report, including chronology, video limitations, traffic comparison and conclusion; read 13 November 2026.
SEFAA September 2025 release index. Published 1 October 2025; distinguishes release month from the reported June incident.