Port Shepstone rescuers are monitoring a mysterious situation in which ”numerous” eye-witnesses reported an unidentified object crashing into the sea, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said on Saturday.
Eddie Noyons, NSRI Shelley Beach station commander, said eye-witnesses reported that an unidentified object, possibly an aircraft, had crashed into the sea behind the breaker line off-shore of the Port Shepstone High School.
Police, rescue craft and a fixed wing aircraft were alerted to the scene to investigate.
”Following a full-scale search of the area covering 12 square nautical miles nothing has been found.
”There are no reports of activity in the area that may be related to this incident and there are no aircraft reported to be overdue or missing,” said Noyons.
He said numerous eye-witnesses — including teachers and pupils attending a sports event at the high school, and other by-standers including local fishermen — were convinced they had seen an aircraft go into the water. Eyewitnesses rpeorted seeing an explosion and smoke.
Interviews with the witnesses revealed that some also reported seeing flames.
”Some reported seeing something, an unidentified object, splash into the sea causing a ripple effect of waves, ” Noyons said.
Due to the number of eye-witnesses with similar reports, it was presumed that weather activity in the area at the time might have given the impression of something falling into the sea.
”We will continue to monitor the situation which remains a mystery,” he said. – Sapa