**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GLOBAL TRANSPORT AUTHORITIES ISSUE EMERGENCY DIRECTIVE FOLLOWING UNPRECEDENTED LANTERN INCIDENT

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have jointly issued an urgent global safety bulletin today, following what officials are calling a “catastrophic near-miss” involving a commercial airliner and a massive cluster of unauthorized aerial lanterns.

WHAT: A Boeing 787 operating Flight AC-907 was forced into an emergency dive over the Atlantic Ocean, 200 nautical miles off the coast of Ireland, after its cockpit crew reported a sudden, blinding wall of flame-like objects directly in its flight path. Analysis later confirmed the objects were thousands of sky lanterns, apparently released from a single, unregistered maritime vessel.

WHO: The flight, operated by a major European carrier, was en route from New York to London. All 287 passengers and 13 crew members are reported safe but in a state of shock. The vessel responsible for the lantern launch has been identified through satellite imagery as a private superyacht flagged in Panama. The owner and captain are currently detained by Irish authorities for questioning.

WHEN: The incident occurred at approximately 02:17 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on November 22, 2023, during the peak of the Asian Lantern Festival.

WHERE: The near-collision took place in controlled oceanic airspace, specifically within the North Atlantic Organized Track System (NAT-OTS), a corridor designated for high-volume transatlantic traffic.

WHY: Investigators from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) state the vessel launched the lanterns as a private spectacle. However, the prevailing jet stream carried the floating paper lights to an altitude of 38,000 feet, directly into the path of the inbound commercial jet. Preliminary reports indicate the