CIA-UAP-016, Sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects in Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan
A 1968 report about UFO sightings in Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan. Seven UFO sightings are listed that took place between 19 Feb. to 25 Mar. 1968. A more redacted version of the report has been available on CIA's public website.
The summary above is sourced from the released file metadata as published to war.gov. The analysis sections below are original to this tracker.
Text of the document
Machine-extracted from the PDF war.gov published (its text layer or OCR), so expect errors, especially in names, numbers and handwriting; the PDF is the authoritative copy. Lines that did not extract as readable text are left out. Showing about 316 words from pages 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 of 6.
PAGE 1
He will try t.o find out-Dr. Edward Condon, former head of the National B1,1,reau of Standard-s and recently named director ofthe Air Force• sponsored civilian investigation of UFO's with headquarters at the University of Colorado· in Boulder. 3
PAGE 3
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY DATE OISTR. SUBJECT ~ir,htings of c___,u~r~,1~a~e=n~t~il~i~od---,-----sFl,.,--::y=-"ing Objects in Ladakh, Nepal, .:,ikkim and Bhutan ~~~~~-~~~~~--~I sightings of unidentified flyini:; objects in Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan during the period 19 February - • Particulars of Bright Objects 3een Over South Ladakh, :iorth East Nepal, !lorth Sikkim and Western Bhutan, • Date Local Area over Direction ?articulars Time which seen· of flight of the Cbiect and Koyul West li[71t and two blasting sounds were heard. Also, one reddish lir,ht followed by ,Nt-0RM.ATION REPORT INFORMATION REPORT
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Date :.:ca: 1'"'...r.e Area over whi ...b Lirtction of flight Particulars of the seer. object red and een l:rigr, light. Thunder sound r....:rt. after !f'!II eeconda ot i,ifhtq of object. east to florth-wEcet ovej> .·,1:ndflr &oUnd was heard ~eeie Le., the direction wu reportedly trom Uorth-east to SouUl west. The latter direction coincides "1th the one over Nepal and ia likely to be more correct aince the date and tim1111 of the fiilbt of object also
PAGE 5
~ ◄ Date Local Time Area over -which Direction of fiight Particulars of the seen object but Indian terr"'-0ry bright enour-h to brighten the direction o_ flight. the area. c0"1ld well be frox:. North-east to South-west, that is, f'ro111 the dirtc tion of' Tibet. circular path. Left a trail of mnoke behind 25 ¥.arch 1968 2150 Fllkche, Koyul, Appeared from Chang La Demchok side and waa eeen moving towards Demochok, i.e. from north to south. height of 20-2SsOOO feet.
PAGE 6
1Jlrect1.on of night Kulci region 1n Appflared to be north to south. A blazing diec-ahaped ob,1ect witb • au-toot base and tav ffft in height vu twnd in a crater at Baltichau.r, tive 1111lH HE ot Polchara.
Where this file fits in the PURSUE archive
This file is one of CIA's 23 files in the Trump PURSUE disclosure. Within the CIA agency block it ranks #15 of 23 by Anomalousness Index. Across the entire 450-file archive it ranks #226 of 450.
That places it in the lower-scoring band of the archive (226 of 450 by score), typical of investigative-record style files where the report is paper-based rather than instrumented.
For the broader cluster context, this file is part of CIA Himalayan UFO Sightings (1968) - the 1968 CIA field intelligence report documenting seven UFO sightings across Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan, including a field source claim that a metallic disc-shaped object was physically found near Pokhara, Nepal. The cluster page walks through all 1 member files with regional grouping, sensor breakdown, and standout analysis.
Anomalousness Index: 58/100
Evidentiary weight that this encounter remains unexplained after conventional analysis. Not a probability of extraterrestrial origin - that number is not honestly computable from the released files and this tracker refuses to publish it.
🤖 AI-ASSISTED SCORING · methodology
The six rubric components break down for this file as follows. Each component has a weighted contribution to the final score; the per-component explanation below describes what this file's particular value on that component means in the rubric's framework.
Reported by a witness with no instrumented record. The lowest tier in the rubric's sensor axis. Eyewitness perception in field conditions, even when the witness is highly credentialed, scores below capture by any instrumented modality. This report reached the federal record through the CIA.
Federal agency personnel (CIA investigators or equivalent) recording the report into the federal investigative system. Investigative credentials, but typically operating in a reactive rather than mission-active posture.
Single-witness or single-instrument capture. This is the corroboration tier for the overwhelming majority of the PURSUE archive on the released metadata - the rubric records the honest limit of the underlying record rather than inferring multi-witness corroboration that the released summaries do not establish. A small number of files with an independent second witness or instrument score on the multi-witness/multi-instrument tier above this one.
No kinematic measurements - speed, acceleration, vector - are published in the released file with sufficient precision to score on the kinematic axis. The rubric does not infer kinematic anomaly from narrative observer estimates. Every file in the archive carries this value, which is itself an observation about the disclosure: kinematic-grade telemetry was not part of what was released.
A conventional candidate explanation has been considered but is not dispositive. Every file in the archive scores this way - reflecting that the underlying release metadata systematically caveats strong determinations in either direction. The released summaries warn against reading them as conclusive analytical judgments, and the rubric respects that.
Released as open after formal review by the originating agency. The file passed through a review process and was published in that posture - a stronger disposition signal than 'unresolved with no review,' because review has occurred and the open status is the agency's published conclusion.
Bottom line on the score: the Anomalousness Index of 58/100 reflects evidentiary weight that this specific file's encounter remains structurally unexplained by the rubric's six axes - it is not a claim that the underlying event involved anything non-conventional, and it is not comparable across rubrics that use different weights. For the full per-axis weights and the rubric JSON, see /methodology.
Related files in CIA
Other PURSUE files in the same category, ranked by Anomalousness Index.
ODNI-UAP-D001, USPER Narrative, Senior USIC Official
CIA-UAP-002, Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects, Report, 1952-1953
CIA-UAP-003, The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance; The U-2 and OXCA…
CIA-UAP-004, CASE 17708 (CLOSED) and DR. Leon Davidson
CIA-UAP-005, German Scientist's Article on 'Flying Discs'
CIA-UAP-006, Sighting Of Unconventional Aircraft
Verification
SHA-256:
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