Motorists were left shocked and bewildered by a mysterious black ring which appeared in the sky.

One driver captured the eerie sight on camera, the latest in a number of sightings that have been baffling scientists and exciting Ufologists, reports the Mirror.

The creepy flying pattern, which has been dubbed a ‘smoke vortex’, panicked the couple in the vehicle as they drove near the city of Krasnoyarsk.

A young woman can be heard in the background saying: ‘Some black cloud. A black ring in the sky.’

Her male companion adds it is growing in size, before the woman replies: ‘It’s scary!’

The distinctive black rings have been spotted in several parts of the world recently.

They have been encountered from the American Midwest to Siberia, and even in the UK.

Drivers were left baffled on the M62 in West Yorkshire earlier this year by a strange apparition.

The local fire service could offer no explanation, nor weather experts.

There were fears the sinister shapes resembled black smoke trails left by ‘Death Eaters’ in the Harry Potter series.

But now author and UFO expert Nigel Watson believes he has the answer.

He told MailOnline: ‘It is the byproduct of cannon fire at a battle re-enactment at the nearby Yorkshire Wartime Experience.’

Kimberley Robinson, 22, spotted the mysterious ring as she travelled down the motorway with her boyfriend Danny Cooper, 26.

Kimberley photographed the strange black mark near Birkenshaw on Sunday just after 1.30pm.

Full-time mum Miss Robinson described the circle as ‘the weirdest thing I have ever seen’.

She said: ‘Me and my boyfriend were driving and noticed a black flying ring in the sky.

‘It looked a bit smokey but the shape was a solid ring.

‘We hadn’t ever seen anything like this before, we have looked into it and no one knows what it is.’

The pair were travelling back home to Bury, Great Manchester, from Norfolk after spending the night at an RAF base to see her boyfriend’s godson.

Nick Pope, who used to investigate UFOs and other mysteries for the Ministry of Defence, had already alluded to the explanation.

He said: ‘Despite exotic theories about UFOs, aliens, or portals to other dimensions, I believe there’s a decidedly down-to-earth explanation here.’

‘A so-called smoke vortex can arise when you have a blast through a circular structure like a smokestack.

‘So these weird effects can be caused by accident - or indeed by design.

‘On this latter point, they can be created as a sort of pyrotechnic effect, and it would be interesting to know if there were any outdoor festivals being held in the area concerned.’

It turned out there had - the military reenactment involved live action explosions.