[Does anyone on the site know any one of the eye witnesses in Port Shepstone? I would love to hear more about this. Here is a series of news stories about something mysteriously falling into the sea off the coast of S.Africa. It seems to me as if something really crashed. I wonder if it could have been an unmanned aerial vehicle? Jan]

UFO ‘mystery’ has town buzzing
22/05/2006 22:56 – (SA)

By: Dries Liebenberg and Sapa, Beeld

Port Shepstone – Was it a tornado? Or was it an unidentified object that crashed into the sea?

This was the question on everybody’s lips after the NSRI received a call and subsequently searched the area at Port Shepstone for more than two hours looking for an “unidentified flying object” that had crashed into the sea at the weekend.

Frans van Rensburg, a teacher at Port Shepstone High School, said on Monday it was simply a tornado that sucked up the sea water behind the breakers.

It was halftime during a rugby match between the first rugby teams of Port Shepstone and Ixopo when he noticed a dark cloud just before noon on a perfectly sunny Saturday morning.

“A few weeks ago, we also watched a cold front move in and shake the palm trees.

Funnel formed from the cloud

“As another cold front had been predicted, I wanted to film it on video,” he said.

He said a funnel formed from the cloud, which then moved down and horizontally before reaching down into the sea.

It caused ripples and mist above the water before forming a funnel of water which was sucked up into the cloud funnel. He filmed it on video for about two minutes.

Marcel Roux of the weather office in Durban said this phenomenon was a tornado which typically formed above the sea when cold air, such as Saturday’s southerly wind, moved over a warm sea current.

Three similar tornados were spotted at Ballito on Saturday.

Eddie Noyons, NSRI commander in Port Shepstone, said he had seen such video material and accepted that there was a tornado, but believed something else also crashed into the sea.

“It was definitely not the same thing (a tornado),” he said, quoting about 20 witnesses.

Planning to send down divers

People calling in at the weekend speculated about the object being a meteorite or space debris, said Noyons.

The NSRI planned to send divers down to see what, if anything, had crashed behind the breakers.

“The search was called off on Sunday and will resume once the sea is calm. At the moment the sea is not conducive to diving,” said Noyons. “Rescue workers were unable to find oil slicks or petrol or any signs of a wreckage.

“We are not yet sure what it was that crashed into the sea.”

URL: http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/New…br>

UFO ‘crashes’ into KZN sea
20/05/2006 22:12 – (SA)

Port Shepstone – The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) is monitoring a mysterious situation on the KZN south coast.

“Numerous” eye-witnesses reported an unidentified flying object crashing into the sea on Saturday.

NSRI Shelley Beach station commander, Eddie Noyons, said eye-witnesses had reported an unidentified object – possibly an aircraft – crashing 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.

Noyons said: “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 overdue or missing.”

He said numerous eye-witnesses – including teachers and pupils attending a sports event at the high school, by-standers and local fishermen – were convinced they had seen an aircraft go into the water.

They said they saw smoke and described “water exploding”.

Some also reported seeing flames.

Noyons said: “Some reported seeing something, an unidentified object, splash into the sea causing a ripple effect of waves.”

Noyons said it was being 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.

URL: http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/New…br>

No sign of ‘UFO’ – NSRI
21/05/2006 22:40 – (SA)

Port Shepstone – There is no sign of an apparent “UFO” that was reported to have crashed into the sea off Port Shepstone on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast.

National Sea Rescue Institute spokesperson Craig Lambinon says nothing has been found yet, despite an extensive search over an area covering 12 square nautical miles.

The mysterious object that “crashed” into the sea behind the breaker-line off-shore of Port Shepstone High School about 12:20 on Saturday, has raised a frenzy of interest worldwide.

The number of readers who have clicked on the report carried by News24 reached more than 30 000 by 18:00 on Sunday afternoon.

Lambinon said on Sunday evening: “Witnesses said they thought they saw an unidentified object, possibly an aircraft, crash into the sea, but absolutely nothing has been found.

“Police and the NSRI offices in Shelley Beach and Port Edward responded to the call that something had crashed into the sea.

Some even saw flames

” Margate air traffic control also searched the area with a fixed-wing aircraft.

Numerous witnesses, including pupils and teachers at a school sports event, and fishermen were convinced they saw an aircraft go into the water.

“They saw smoke and water exploding. Some even saw flames.

“Some reported seeing an unidentified object splash into the sea causing a ripple of waves,” said Lambinon.

“A reliable source, who was on a hill overlooking the sea about 2km away, said he saw something crash into the sea.

“The object trailed smoke behind it, and even after it had crashed the column of smoke hung in the air for several minutes.

“It caused a big splash when it hit the water and bobbed up and down,” said Lambinon, quoting one of the witnesses.

‘It might have been the weather…’

“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.

“The number of witness reports leads us to presume that weather activity in the area at the time may have given the impression of something falling into the sea.

“We will continue to monitor the situation, which remains a mystery,” said Lambinon, adding: “If there ever was something…”.

URL: http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/New…br>

‘UFO’ search will resume
23/05/2006 09:35 – (SA)

Johannesburg – The search for an unidentified object, which crashed into the sea at Port Shepstone on Saturday, will resume at the weekend as there were no bodies to search for, the National Sea Rescue Institute said on Tuesday.

“It is unlikely that we will go out to search before the weekend. The NSRI’s core business is rescuing people and here there is no loss of life involved,” said NSRI Shelley Beach Station Commander Eddie Noyons.

The search for the unidentified object began on Saturday after witnesses reported that an 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 had 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.

Ripple effect on waves

He said numerous witnesses – including teachers and pupils attending a sports event at the high school, and other bystanders including local fishermen – were convinced they had seen an aircraft go into the water, including seeing smoke and a water plume.

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 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.

Noyons said rescue workers were unable to find oil slicks, petrol spillage or any signs or wreckage during the search on Saturday.

“We are not sure what it was as we are still unaware of any missing aircraft, but will continue the search at the weekend. Its probably a small meteorite or something. The weekend will be a nice time for diving,” said Noyons.

URL: http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/New…br>