The mysterious case of a UFO sighting at an African school nearly 20 years on

A school in Africa is the scene of the most notorious UFO sightings of all time.

In September 1994 Ruwa was only a tiny agricultural centre just 14 miles south east of the Zimbabwe’s capital city Harare but ever since that day it has been a major talking point for all UFO enthusiasts.

It was a typically sunny early-afternoon on September 19 1994 when a group of 60 children at Ariel School made the shock claim to have witnessed aliens landing in their playground beside the school.

When asked by the BBC Zimbabwe correspondent Tim Leach one student said: “It looked like it was glinting in the trees. It looked like a disc, like a round…”.

And when Leach asked the children whether they could have been mistaken and whether it could have been a ‘Harrier Jump jet’ or ‘something the Zimbabwe Air Force have got?’ they stuck to their guns and were adamant about what they had witnessed.

UFO enthusiast Cynthia Hinds had her interest peaked by the sighting and even travelled all the way from England to speak to the children.

She told the BBC: “I certainly believe the children. I’ve come across a similar type of thing in Broad Haven in Wales, 1979 and the British didn’t believe it, although I went down three times. It’s very similar to the whole incident here.”

Various different theories and explanations have been mused about what the children had actually seen or whether the in fact that had made the whole thing up.

But, in the days and weeks later a dramatic development was made in the case as more sightings were reported in nearby by areas.

One local woman said: “I saw a glow over my chicken run. A very orange glow.”

Meanwhile 239 miles west in the town of Kariba, a man made a similar statement saying: “We suddenly looked up and we saw this this thing coming over the top of the hill. As it came abreast of us it suddenly changed from this glow to two big red orange balls.”