A beautiful fire rainbow that appeared in the sky over Singapore was mistaken for a UFO after it ‘came out of nowhere’.

The rare light phenomena was spotted over the north-east district of the country and hovered there for more than 15 minutes, according to witnesses.

Baffled residents commented on the extreme brightness of the rainbow , which initially caused some onlookers to believe that the light was actually a sign of alien life.

Bernard Ong, who recorded footage of the magnificent phenomena, said: “I have never seen such a beautiful Mother Nature before.

“This was totally something amazing. Someone said it looks like a UFO , too.”

Natalie Claudia Wong, 23, told the Express that she saw the ball of light at around 5pm on Monday.

She said: “I was talking towards my bus stop when I found myself in awe of this beautiful cloud and the myriad of colours that were bursting out of it.

“This was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

Fire rainbows are a rare phenomenon, also known as circumhorizontal arcs, and occur when light bursts through ice-crystals in cirrus clouds .