A huge police operation has been launched after a mysterious object fell from the sky on the south coast.
It sparked several 999 calls, with stunned witnesses reporting there had been a plane crash,Plymouth Live reports.
Others have suggested it could be an “asteroid” which broke in two as it plummeted to earth.
Police sent two aircraft into the air to search for a wreckage, but later concluded it was the result of a “meteor shower”.
Devon and Cornwall Police are investigating after the drama unfolded shortly before 6am today.
In a statement police said air and ground searches are being carried out, but there are no recorded flights in the area.
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Insp John Shuttleworth said: “We are as satisfied as we can be that this has not been a light aircraft crash and no persons have been injured.
“The expert opinion of trained search officers is that if there had been an aircraft crash, assets in the air would have seen some debris.
“There have also been a couple of reports from the Cardiff and Dorset areas of people watching meteor showers across the South West. ”
The Force Incident Manager for Devon and Cornwall Police said earlier this morning:“ We have had further reports of seeing an object in the sky from some distance away with a trajectory towards the ground, with an item falling off it at some point.
“There have been reports it broke into two and this
“We’ve got two aircrafts in the air looking and doing aerial searches of the area. At the moment we are saying it is the Yelverton / Tavistock / Prince Town area.
“We’ve got a local inspector now coordinating that search with supporting ground resources which at the moment are police officers but we might look at contacting further resources at some point.
“The best advice for the best way to search when you’ve got no distinct area is the use of aerial observations.
“In principle if it was an aircraft there would be something visible from the sky in terms of smoke and or fire.
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“There is still no recorded flights in that area but that’s not to say a small aircraft wouldn’t need to register the flight; It’s possible one could be in the air with no formal authorization.
“It could also be a meteorite.”
Earlier the Plymouth C Section Response police Twitter account posted: “Did anybody else see two glowing objects falling southwesterly direction out towards Plymouth sound? I know I have been up all night, but that was odd. Asteroid?”
In response motorist Conor Shaw wrote: “Saw this too driving on the M 23 this morning. “
Patrick Blake, from London, posted on Twitter: “I saw a meteor as well at the exact same time. Was in East London Bow Church facing in the south west direction. Saw it curve downwards moving east to west. It even broke into two pieces. “
Posting on Plymouth Live’s Facebook page, Julie Dunham wrote: “I saw that this morning in St Budeaux thought it was a shooting star.”
And Darren Delbridge wrote: “Looked like a huge shooting star breaking apart as it was traveling. “
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