Multiple witnesses, including RCMP officers, reported a lighted object descending into the water off Shag Harbour. The RCAF and Royal Canadian Navy mounted a brief recovery operation; the case remains the only 'crash' incident formally investigated by Canada with no conventional resolution. Multiple independent civilian and law enforcement witnesses observed an illuminated 60-foot object rapidly descend and strike the waters off the Atlantic coast. Initially treated as a catastrophic aviation disaster, the RCMP, Canadian Coast Guard, and later U.S. military divers mounted a massive search and recovery operation.