UFO 'mystery' has town buzzing

2006-05-22 22:56

Dries Liebenberg and Sapa

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."

- Beeld