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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Jacob Jarvis

Area 51 Naruto run: UFO hunter becomes online sensation as he races behind news presenter

A UFO enthusiast has become a viral sensation after doing a "Naruto run" in the background of a broadcast near Area 51.

Exuberant attendees have been seen throwing their arms behind their backs and running in their bid to “see them aliens” they believe are at the base.

In one clip, a broadcaster describes the scene to camera, before the "Naruto runner" swoops into the background and charges through the sand.

He has been hailed a "legend" online as the tweet was widely shared on social media.

People 'Naruto run' through Area 51 (REUTERS)

Those crowded in the Nevada desert have gathered as part of a tongue-in-cheek event to see extra-terrestrials people believe to be at the site.

Images have shown people doing the run, where they stick their heads down, throw their arms back and charge, with one even being caught in the back of a news broadcast.

The event suggested that if attendees ran like Naruto, the titular character in a series of Japanese manga comics, they could “move faster than their bullets”.

Almost two million people signed up to a Facebook event advertising a mass "Naruto run" through the US Air Force base in the desert.

The event was first suspended amid concerns of a safety hazard, but has since sprung back to life.

The alien conspiracy theory is centred on Area 51, a secretive military base near the obscure town of Rachel, Nevada, home to only 54 people in the 2010 census.

As footage posted to Twitter showed hundreds of UFO fans storming on the site, the US Air Force warned: “[Area 51] is an open training range for the US Air Force, and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces."

The statement starkly added: “The US Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets.”

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