An Irish TV channel was forced to make a rather embarrassing correction after reports of a meteor on a beach turned out to be just a big hole that been dug with a kids’ spade.
A local space enthusiast had raised the alarm after he discovered a sizeable crater Portmarnock beach near Dublin, which he believed was created by a meteor strike.
The man in question even found a black rock which he claimed to have been the space rock in question.
Virgin Media was quick to the scene, with a reporter saying: “This is a suspected meteor strike in Dublin.
“[The dog walker] came across this unusual crater yesterday when he was walking his dog on Portmarnock beach, and inside it, he found this.”
Holding the suspected meteor in her hands, the reporter added: “It’s a rock that is heavier than what it might look. It’s heavier than one you might expect to pick up in this area, and it’s flat on one side, and you’ve got these kind of scorch marks on the side as well.
“He suspects that this was a meteor strike that created, the impact of it, the force of it, created that crater behind me.
“All that’s left now is for him to get it tested to see if this can be confirmed as a meteor strike in Dublin.”
However, some people on social media appeared to burst the bubble.
An account on X/Twitter by @spochadóir showed what appeared to be footage of two men digging the hole themselves.
“Lads I’m in bits. Virgin Media news is after reporting on a hole on Portmarnock beach that ‘Could be the aftermath of a cosmic event’. Some fellas literally dug it the day before with a kid’s shovel.
“The way your man was talking about the rock being an asteroid had me in tears.”
