Police in England’s South West were called early Sunday about a possible collision between two planes. They launched immediate land and air searches.
But, it turns out, the “bright object breaking in half in the sky” was likely a meteor.
People alerted authorities about the glowing object over Yelverton, Devon, at around 6.25 a.m. Sunday.
“One man reported a possible mid-air collision between two planes, with one catching fire and falling from the sky.” police said in a statement.
“Officers launched a search of the area with assistance from the HM Coastguard helicopter as police were unable to categorically rule out the possibility of a plane crash,” the statement said.
Local airports confirmed the incident didn’t involve any aircraft and nobody was injured,” police said. “All services were stood down after no aircraft debris was seen and further sightings of a meteor shower were reported over the South West,” the statement added.
“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.” said police Inspector John Shuttleworth.
A group called the UK Meteor Network posted photos of the meteor on social media.
A French association of amateur observers also captured images of the object from across the English Channel.
