Plane over Seattle appears to be on fire, causing panic on social media – but the incident was a false alarm caused by paratroopers with flares
- Seattle police told DailyMail.com that the incident was a false alarm
- Skydivers carrying flares jumped into the Seattle Sounders MLS game
- Images sparked panic and confusion on social media platform X
In videos posted online Saturday evening, a plane appeared to be on fire over Seattle, sparking fear on social media — but the incident was a false alarm.
“It was a skydiver with pyrotechnics for the Sounders Game that took place tonight at Lumen Field,” a spokesperson for the Seattle Police Department told DailyMail.com, referring to the city’s MLS club.
Photos and videos posted on social media showed a plane with twin flames behind it.
Some images showed the flames fanning out in different directions.
In videos posted online Saturday evening, a plane appeared to be on fire over Seattle, sparking fear on social media – but the incident was a false alarm
A skydiver poses for a photo after landing in the Lumen field on Saturday evening. Pyrotechnics used by the skydiver was responsible for false alarms about a burning plane, police say
The images, which were first posted on X around 7:30 PM local time, caused confusion and panic on the platform.
“It looks like a passenger plane engine exploded in mid-air in Seattle,” one person wrote.
“Uh, what were those falling fireballs in the Seattle sky just now?” wrote another.
Yet another asked, “What the hell is going on in Seattle?”
In 2019, a similar incident led to reports of a UFO or huge meteor over downtown Los Angeles.
In that case, the fireball turned out to be winged jumpers performing a Red Bull stunt.
In the Los Angeles incident, three members of the Red Bull Air Force jumped from a helicopter at an altitude of 4,000 feet as part of a stunt to mark the third supermoon of the year.
They wore custom-made winged suits, fitted with pyrotechnics and LED lights, which glittered as the men flew through the air at 125mph before deploying their parachutes.
Police said Saturday’s sighting in Seattle was related to the Sounders game.
The Sounders, who clinched an MLS playoff berth on Wednesday, were scheduled to face their Cascadia Cup rivals, the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Seattle returns to the playoffs after missing 2022, the only season since joining MLS in 2009 in which it failed to qualify for the postseason.
