SURFSIDE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — Myrtle Beach police last Sunday were alerted to reports of an “object that was seen falling into the ocean” near 18th Ave S., where they found what turned out to be party balloons in the water.
After being contacted by local dispatchers, the US Coast Guard was called to the scene to further investigate the balloons that drifted their way from Myrtle Beach to Surfside Beach.
US Coast Guard Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator, Lt. Michael Allen, said the initial reports of the unknown object at the time were very vague, taking protocol to respond until it was determined a non-distress situation.
“The initial imagery that we had, while not 100% clear or not very clear, could easily have been in like received as a potential parachutist in distress,” he said. “Just the way that the orientation of what turned out to be balloons, initially it looked like it may have been a person hanging below an entangled parachute as it entered the water.”
Officials said the object, eventually identified as a “large cluster” of party balloons, was recovered around 4 p.m. off the Surfside Beach coast. Allen said at the time when the object was still unknown, the Coast Guard responded until it was confirmed there was no member of the public in distress.