A retired US Air Force fighter pilot has suggested the existence of substantial documentation that could validate one of the most talked-about UFO encounters in the past 30 years.

Colonel Fred Claussen, a decorated veteran who received the Distinguished Flying Cross twice, made headlines in Washington on Tuesday. During a press conference, he shared insights into the 1996 incident that reportedly occurred in Varginha, Brazil, and pointed out potential witnesses who might have knowledge about the event.

The incident is said to have unfolded on January 13, 1996, when residents reported a UFO crash in a field near Varginha. This was followed by accounts of bizarre creatures, described by witnesses as bipedal with oily brown skin and prominent red eyes.

Remarkably, three young women claimed they encountered one of these beings hiding behind a wall close to the crash site.

There are allegations that Brazilian authorities, including the police and military, captured at least two aliens. However, the narrative continues with claims that the US Air Force intervened, seizing the wreckage, the deceased extraterrestrials, and any survivors, thus initiating a supposed cover-up that has persisted for three decades.

To date, the US military maintains that no physical evidence has been found to confirm the existence of UFOs or alien life, and they have not acknowledged any recovery operation linked to this incident.

However, Claussen spoke at an event at the National Press Club organized by investigative filmmaker James Fox, which gathered witnesses and other experts to expose what they claim has been buried about the Varginha crash.

‘If true, I am certain that 30 to 40 Americans had direct knowledge of this flight and its purpose,’ Claussen said.

Former Air Force pilot Fred Claussen (Pictured) claimed that dozens of US military personnel likely know about an alleged UFO crash landing in Brazil in 1996

Carlos de Souza, witness of an alleged UFO crash in Varginha, Brazil in 1996, speaks at a press conference on UFO encounters at the National Press Club on Tuesday

Often called the ‘Brazilian Roswell,’ Claussen said that even secret missions involve multiple military personnel and various orders that create documented evidence of their existence.

The decorated Air Force veteran explained that if the US military did launch a UFO recovery mission to Brazil, it would have started within Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. 

They would have received the initial order to send a cargo plane, so senior officers there would have known the Varginha crash existed.

‘An international flight plan to Brazil is required even if the mission is classified. Paper trail,’ Claussen declared.

From there, a specific Air Mobility Wing at Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina would have received a detailed mission order, selected a crew, and prepared a C-17 aircraft for launch – involving dozens of people.

Pilots, loadmasters, schedulers, and commanders at that base would have been in the loop in 1996, and Claussen was convinced the proof of that UFO crash still exists.

Along with the witnesses from Brazil and other UFO researchers, Claussen then challenged the Air Force personnel who allegedly flew to Brazil to become whistleblowers and expose what really happened in 1996.

‘We know this mission happened, and you know it, too. Come forward. The time is now,’ the former pilot said.

Witnesses claimed that a cigar-shaped object crashed on a local farm and was quickly recovered by Brazilian military and police

According to witnesses, multiple non-human aliens were still alive and were captured after the crash in Varginha, Brazil in January 1996 (Stock Image)

The incident 30 years ago played out over several days and also involved the death of a Brazilian police office who was allegedly contaminated by one of the aliens.

On January 13, 1996, witnesses in Varginha spotted a cigar-shaped UFO that looked damaged and had white smoke pouring out of it.

The supposed spacecraft crashed on a farm outside the city, where witness Carlos de Souza, who attended Tuesday’s press conference, found scattered debris and a strange, lightweight metal that reshaped itself after being crumpled.

However, soldiers quickly arrived and de Souza claimed he was ordered to leave at gunpoint. Later, two mysterious men in suits allegedly threatened him at a gas station to stay silent about what he saw.

‘You saw nothing. You know nothing. Or you will have problems for the rest of your life,’ de Souza recounted about his meeting with the unidentified men.

Days later, on January 20, the three young women encountered a reportedly scared, non-human being in a vacant lot that had a strong ammonia smell.

Brazilian military and police captured at least two of these beings that same day, including one grabbed bare-handed by officer Marco Eli Chereze, whose skin was scratched during the capture.

Chereze developed a deadly infection from the alleged scratch and died weeks later.

Dr Armando Monteiro, a forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on Chereze, revealed during the press conference that he discovered a rare, aggressive bacterium that doctors suspected might have been of alien origin in the officer’s wound.

Soon after, the beings and debris were reportedly transported to a Brazilian airport, where the secret C-17 cargo plane allegedly loaded them and flew back to America.

Although witnesses have maintained that everything they saw was real, no evidence from the reported crash site has been seen again and the death of Chereze was reportedly listed as an infection due to the Earth bacteria strain Staphylococcus schleiferi.