Navy abandons search for mysterious object that reportedly plunged to Indian Ocean

Naval teams and private divers Saturday scoured a site off the coast of Kwale for debris of an object that plunged into the Indian Ocean early morning.

The search for the mystery object was abandoned after the teams found nothing. Kenya does not have equipment to detect objects at depths beyond 500 metres, marine sources said, yet these waters are known to be more than two kilometres deep.

Officials declined to divulge information about the incident, but fishermen and private tour boat owners claimed they sighted a plane plunging into the sea.

Other reports indicated that the object could have been debris from a decommissioned satellite.

By the time of going to press, no aircraft had been reported missing.

Kwale County Commissioner Evans Achoki said he received reports of a plane falling into the ocean and conducted searches since 7am, but the search yielded no results.