08 October 2023 , 04:04
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The sight of a flaming object flying across the sky caused terror in Seattle, with many residents believing it was a passenger plane crashing. However, the police have since revealed what the strange object was, and it's nothing to be worried about.
Dozens of people took to social media to share photos and videos of the incident, showing an aircraft with fire and smoke billowing from the back end. One tweet, posted by X user @zikouru, read: "Looks like a passenger plane engine exploded mid air in Seattle."
However the Seattle Police Department has since confirmed to The Mirror US that the terrifying sight was nothing more than a skydiver using pyrotechnics for a performance over Lumen Field that evening, where a soccer match between the Seattle Sounders and the Vancouver Whitecaps was set to kick off at 7:30pm local time.
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"It was a sky diver with pyrotechnics for the Sounders match occurring this evening over at Lumen Field," Public Information Officer Detective Judinna J. Gulpan confirmed in a statement to The Mirror US.
Nonetheless, other X users were alarmed by the sighting. Several others reacted, saying things like "yooooooo" and "That sucks."
But others were quick to see the "exposion" for what it actually was. One user, @dudewhosadude, immediately commented with a screenshot of an X post, formerly known as a Tweet, from the Navy's Leap Frogs, a parachuting team that performs stunts like that the police said occurred on Saturday night.
The Leap Frogs posted at 10:35am local time that they would be conducting two operations that day, with the second slated to occur at Lumen Field at 7:20pm local time. That time coincided with the video taken by the concerned resident. The post even tagged the Sounders' own X page, noting that the drop was set to occur ahead of the match.
"Looks like a plane dropping off a pair of skydivers with flares attached to them. Red Bull did something similar in LA a few years ago," added user @BrewCityChaser. "Parachute guys on airplane, or helicopter with spark emitters on their boots. Probably jumping into a baseball game," wrote @MarcusBrodie6.
Anther user, @McFrequentFlyer, simply wrote: "Fake news." By around 9:30pm local time, the original post had garnered nearly 35,000 views, more than 160 likes and over 80 reposts.