A UFO has been spotted hovering at tree levels in Joplin, Missouri, according to a report submitted by a State Trooper in Mutual UFO Network (MUFON).

According to the report, which has been registered under case 60172, the witness - who wishes to remain unidentified - saw a "very large UFO with windows hovering close to trees". The sighting reportedly took place on 2 September.

"I work in law enforcement as a State Trooper so don't want my real name used, but felt it was important to let someone know what I saw," Open Minds quoted the witness as saying.

"I want you to know that I've never seen anything like this before and hope I never do again," he added.

The witness said that while he was driving north on the Range Line Road on 2 September, a bright light along the level of trees caught his attention. He slowed down because at first he thought it was a helicopter. But then he noticed the object drift slowly westwards towards the highway and closer to his vehicle. According to him, his was the only car on the highway at that time.

On a closer look, the aircraft appeared to have either a tear-drop or triangular shape and "there were windows along the top portion", according to the witness. He further claims to have seen movements inside the rectangular shaped windows on the aircraft.

"The craft appeared to be at least 100-feet-plus wide and 25-feet or so high. It was a dark, dull gray/black metallic craft with lights on the bottom only. I saw no navigation lights. The bottom lights were an amber and a red/orange color of varying sizes, but the odd thing was that there was no beam coming from any of the lights – they simply glowed. The size of the lights was from streetlight size to perhaps 24-inches in diameter. There was a low hum coming from the object which I only noticed on close approach at about 50-feet."

The witness also said that he heard a loud static noise come from his radio for approximately 15 seconds, while witnessing the UFO. But despite all this, he did not report it as he was not sure what he was looking at. The UFO moved towards east before finally disappearing.

"I did not believe in UFOs before this incident but I know what I saw and it was not something of ours – at least that is known to the public," he stressed.