An extensive search-and-rescue operation sparked by a report of a plane crash in Kerry was called off yesterday after nothing was found by the emergency services.
Gardaí in Dingle are now convinced that what some witnesses thought was a plane crash in isolated mountainous countryside near Lispole, was in fact a flare and called off the search operation at lunchtime.
The emergency services launched a full-scale search-and- rescue operation on Monday evening after several members of the public reported seeing a bright orange light trailing smoke and heard loud explosions. The Shannon-based search-and- rescue helicopter searched the Strickeen Hill area near Lispole on Monday night and yesterday morning without finding any debris or missing persons.
"The indications are from a lot of the statements given that it was a flare," said a garda from Dingle. "We've called off the search unless there is a new development, but nobody has been reported missing," he said.
Most of the people who reported the sighting of a plane crashing were several miles away from what appeared to be the crash site. Initial speculation was that the trailing smoke may have come from a micro-light plane which can carry only one person.