To the policeman he spoke to it looked like a meteor or a piece of space junk that disappeared into the ocean.

To Sea Rescue Port Macquarie it was reported as being a green flare.

On a consensus basis, you would have to say that this flying object remains unidentified.

Mr Williams was walking along Elizabeth St at Flynns Beach on Thursday about 7.30pm when he

was shocked to see nearly overhead “a fireball”

heading into the ocean.

He ran to the end of the road expecting to see wreckage and who knows what else in the sea.

But there was nothing there.

He was bewildered, he said.

He dialled 000 and reported the “plane crash”.

Time passed and the cold was getting to him and dialled 000 again.

A few minutes later a policeman rang him back, having misunderstood his location.

The police officer told him he had seen the object too, from Bonny Hills, Mr Williams told the Port News, and asked him for a more detailed description.

It looked like a twin-engine Cessna-type

passenger plane, flying

at about 1000 feet, going towards Rocky Beach, he told him.

Asked its colour, Mr Williams said that would be a problem because he was colour blind, but he could see red, orange, blue.

The policeman said what he had seen was “glowing green” and descending at

a sharp angle, Mr Williams said.

Mr Williams told him the object he had seen was descending at a 45-degree angle, and would have hit the water between three and five kilometres out to sea.

A police patrol report was logged about a bright light that appeared to hit the water somewhere between the breakwall and Point Plomer, Port Macquarie Police intelligence

supervisor Sergeant Wayne Sainsbury told the Port News.

It was thought to be space junk or a meteor.

Sea Rescue had been notified and no further action was required, the report said.

Sea Rescue Port Macquarie had been

notified by police that a green flare had been seen about four kilometres north of the breakwall, spokesman Geoff Shelton told the Port News.

Green flares are used by the Australian navy and air force for signalling, he said.

A burning plane ... space junk ... a flare?

If the truth is out there, it seems to be open to

interpretation.