Mysterious 'fireball' flies across Southampton sky before disappearing
Mysterious 'fireball' flies across Southampton sky before disappearing
A MYSTERIOUS object was seen flying across Southampton before "bursting into flames" and plummeting to the ground.

Residents watched in shock as an unidentified object with a twisted vapour trail began to pass over the city, before it caught fire and suddenly began to fall to the ground.

This happened at around 4.45pm on Saturday January 18, and the object was seen to be travelling towards the Weston Shore, but was believed to be around "20 to 30 miles away".

Kev Brophy, of Blackthorn Road, Southampton, witnessed the incident from his home and described the whole ordeal as "quite scary".

He said: "It was about quarter to five and I was in the front garden when the children noticed it. There was a twisted white vapour trail going directly over the house but as it progressed, it started to descend slowly and the trail turned black.

"Then the trajectory changed totally and it started to plummet, the smoke got thicker until it burst into flames. I assume it was around 20 or 30 miles out."

"Initially myself and my wife thought it was passenger flight it made my wife feel a bit sick. It was quite scary to think it was an accident happening but the police confirmed it was not a passenger flight with a phone call."

Kev claims that Hampshire Police got in contact to confirm the object was a ball of flames, but that it was not an aircraft of any kind.

The Daily Echo has contacted Hampshire Police and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency for more details, but they were both unaware of the incident.