Police call off search for reported plane crash
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — When Robert Meister heard reports of a possible plane crash just two miles away from his home in eastern New Providence, he wasn’t sure whether it had something to do with a Space X Falcon 9 rocket demonstration said to be taking place.
Police had launched a search for a downed aircraft after its control room received reports around 9.15pm that there was a crash in the area of Solomon’s Lighthouse.
A team of officers and marines was deployed and combed the area along Fox Hill creek for nearly two hours, but found no sign of life or debris.
Meister, owner of the Blue Lagoon Island WeatherSTEM station, said around the same time, he went outside to try to catch the rocket demonstration and saw it passing overhead at his waterfront home.
But when he returned inside, he took to social media and saw reports of a plane crash.
He later saw emergency rescue boats in the water.
He said he decided to find out if he could see anything on his home’s security camera, one of which was pointing in the direction of the demonstration.
Meister said the camera footage showed a “streak of light of what appeared to be a meteor or space debris”.
“At that point, I didn’t know it was related to the reported plane crash… We hadn’t heard any sound from a plane crash near here,” he contented.
“Along the water, it would have probably reverberated pretty quickly, being about two miles away.”
He said he called the police to report what he had seen and handed over his video footage to them, though he was not initially sure what it was.
“In the beginning, I was certainly concerned about that…until I saw the video and I put two and two together and said maybe it’s not a plane crash and it was something else, and the rocket had just gone by a few minutes before in a similar trajectory there going to the east,” Meister continued.
In the beginning, I was certainly concerned until I saw the video and I put two and two together and said maybe it’s not a plane crash and it was something else.
– Robert Meister
“I thought it’s certainly possible that a tiny little piece of metal may have come from the SpaceX or it was a meteor. I guess we let the experts decide on that.”
He added that he wanted to help the police whether it was related to a plane crash or something else.
On Tuesday, January 18, at 9.02pm EST, Falcon 9 launched 49 Starlink satellites to low earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
This was the tenth launch and landing of this Falcon 9 first stage booster.
In an update on the investigation, Police Press Liaison Officer Superintendent Audley Peters said police ended their second day of searches in connection to reports of the plane around 11am yesterday.
Peters said officers and marines were once again dispatched near the area and the circumference of Anthers Island.
He said divers were also dispatched and went as far as possible, along with a drone flown over cover the area.
There was no debris from a plane crash nor any signs of life.
