Flying lanterns spark callouts

Tiny flying lanterns are causing headaches for emergency services and police are urging people not to mistake them for distress flares.

Police phone lines around the country, and especially the Coromandel Peninsula, have been running hot with calls from people reporting night time distress flares. However, they are actually small lantern-type fliers powered by small candles and apparently being sold on Coromandel beaches and elsewhere.

Inspector Chris Robinson of police northern communications said the lanterns sparked about half a dozen emergency services callouts in two hours on Boxing Day and another half a dozen yesterday.

"Emergency services are required to investigate distress flares so any false activations are a waste of valuable resources. If the public are going to light lanterns, they need to use any other colour than red which is the international distress colour."

Distress flares rose to a height of around 300m. They then ignited and glowed a very intense red colour before slowly descending over about 40 to 60 seconds, Mr Robinson said.

In contrast, the lanterns rose slowly and stayed in the air for several minutes. Their light was not as bright.

Members of the public should note whether any lights they saw were falling or staying at a constant height, how bright it was, its colour and how long it had been in the air, Mr Robinson said.

They should also try and get some markers to pinpoint where the flare was.

Northern police communications Inspector Cornell Kluessien said the novelty items were bag-like and made of flimsy paper.

When the candle is lit its heat fills the bag, just like a balloon, and it lifts off to float away, higher and higher.

"I'm sure the lanterns are pretty but they're causing us big problems, Mr Kluessien said.

Police believed the lanterns were being sold on beaches and appealed for a halt to sales. He described continued sales and lantern launches as "bloody minded and stupid".

The lanterns may also be behind strange lights reported in the Taranaki night sky. There have also been similar reports of strange lights in Auckland, Christchurch and Tauranga, the Taranaki Daily News reported.

The first sighting was reported to the newspaper last week by Liam Heslop, who said he and his wife saw a single light moving in a west to east direction on December 23 about 9.45pm.

"It looked like a fireball and then it flickered out," he said.

"Then about half an hour later there were another two following the exact same path. It looked to me like a plane on fire really high up."

New Plymouth astronomer Rod Austin said he didn't know what the lights were but he thought they could be balloons with LED candles attached.

"That's my feeling, but I can't prove it," he said.

The paper also speculated the lights could be Chinese sky lanterns, he said, released to mark the fifth anniversary of the Boxing Day tsunami.

The lanterns are readily and cheaply available on Trade Me.

One listing says "folklore has it the lanterns carry away with them bad spirits and misfortune high into the sky and far away, leaving behind only good luck and fortune for the releaser".

- NZPA