Advertisement

Police officer missing at sea near remote 'conspiracy theory' island

Emily Lefroy
·2-min read

The search and rescue mission continues for a police officer missing at sea near a remote island in the Pacific infamous for strange conspiracy theories.

Police Constable Lisiona Koriri Tebau was first reported missing off Starbuck Island in the Central Line Islands of Kiribati on November 1.

According to local broadcaster Radio Kiribati, Constable Tebau was a crew member of Kiribati’s new patrol boat, RKS Teanoai II, which was conducting its first patrol of the Line Islands as part of the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency.

A google maps image of a beach showing a brown object that looks like half a boat on the sand with marks that make it look like its been dragged behind it.
The police officer is missing in the waters off an island rife with UFO conspiracy theories. Source: Google Maps

However, the island where the constable was reported missing was a subject of a Reddit thread that made global headlines in August, with people claiming to have seen a "crashed" UFO on the beach in a Google Maps image.

"Crashed UFO on Starbuck Island!" the post was captioned, along with an image of the object on the sand.

"Visible on Google Earth showing a massive trail behind the object indicating high velocity and great amount of energy to go that far!"

The isolated island is located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and is completely uninhabited by humans.

The new patrol boat from which Constable Tebau disappeared was donated by Australia and the patrol was scheduled to run from October 25 to November 5 before the incident on the seventh day.

The rescue operation is being led by Tahiti’s Joint Rescue Coordination Center with support from the US Coast Guard C130 and RKS Teanoai II.

A search and rescue operation is being carried out for the police constable who was reported missing on November 1. Source: Facebook
A search and rescue operation is being carried out for the police constable who was reported missing on November 1. Source: Facebook

Is strange object on Starbuck Island a UFO?

Although Redditers exchanged UFO conspiracy theories, according to Snopes, the case was actually cracked by a National Geographic piece from over a decade ago.

In a piece shot in 2009 by the publication about members of the Ocean Now team becoming stranded on Starbuck Island during an on-shore excursion, the mysterious structures are there and described as old dwellings on the island from when it was mined.

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.