"The study concludes that 'It is an object or phenomenon of great interest, and it can be qualified as a UFO,'" Kean wrote in her HuffPost report.
It's unclear how CEFAA's investigation was misinterpreted by those other news organizations. CEFAA now confirms to HuffPost that the origin of the UFO was unexplained. However, officials did not state the strange object in the sky was so sophisticated that it could not be made by humans.
When HuffPost reached out to Lay, he maintained that several news reports "twisted what we ever declared about this case."
Watch this CEFAA analysis video of the Collahuasi Chile UFO.
In 2012, Kean was the first American invited to address a group of high-level military personnel, university scientists, aviation specialists and foreign attaches in Chile. In the image below, Kean is in the front row, with Lay sitting to her left.
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What is CEFAA's official position about UFOs?
"We believe the phenomenon exists, and we base this asseveration on the many reports made by our pilots -- civilian and military -- and by our ground traffic and radar controllers," Lay told HuffPost. "We do not know its origin or its nature. That is why we continue investigating and hope many other countries will join us in this endeavor. Period.
"We have gathered a selected group of scientists from our most reputed universities to help us in the committee, together with aeronautic specialists from our DGAC. I must also mention the full support of all our armed services and police."
Lay added that Chile maintains contact with 14 countries around the world, some having their own official government organizations that study UFOs. He makes it very clear no one associated with CEFAA would have leaked the recent story, which claimed the 2013 Collahuasi copper mine UFO was "not made by man."
"In this environment of academic excellence, of professional and disciplined cooperation, where even our armed services are involved, it is impossible that CEFAA was to make a statement such as it was written...without totally convincing proof."
