Emergency services were alerted this weekend after UFOs were spotted over a resort town.

PSNI, coastguard and air traffic control at Aldergrove received calls after dazzling orange lights appeared in the sky over Bangor, Co Down, at around 11.30pm on Saturday.

Sailor Trevor Gill from Ballyholme said: "I was going to bed and went to pull the curtains and I saw three orangey, pinkish lights in the sky staying stationary with a gap between each. I stood there watching them for 10 minutes before the two lowest ones disappeared into the cloud and then the lowest one also disappeared into a cloudy haze."

He said he had never seen such lights during 40 years of sailing and added: "It was definitely not aeroplanes or a helicopters and it wasn't flares or fireworks - so what does that leave you with?

"I'm quite open-minded and I don't believe we are the only ones in the universe, it's not until you see these things with your own eyes. You have to see it to believe it.

"It's something I have never seen in my life - and I was sober.'

Bangor Coastguard spokeswoman said: "Witnesses reported very bright orange lights drifting and reformatting.

"The PSNI and air traffic control at Alder grove received calls reporting further orange lights like the same colour as street lights.

The spokeswoman added: "One caller said there were six orange lights drifting.

"Another reported seeing three orange lights in formation, while another reported the lights as being in the shape of a cross heading from west to south overhead.

"We have never come across the like of that before."

The last confirmed UFO sighting in Northern Ireland was in January 2005 when 18 lights were reported above Portadown, Co Armagh.

ulster@mirror.co.uk