Polish army finds no clue to mysterious blast near Belarusian border

WARSAW

The Polish army announced on Tuesday that no object was found to be linked with a mysterious explosion on May 20 in the Masuria area of northeastern Poland near the border with Belarus.

Following reports on Radio ZET, a helicopter from the Polish Naval Aviation Base in Gdynia-Babie Doly in northern Poland was sent to search for the source of bang heard by locals on the night of May 20 resembling an explosion near the village of Brzezno Lynskie in Nidzica, located close to the border with Belarus, the Polish Armed Forces said in a statement.

After the mysterious blast, a search and rescue helicopter took off, but the search was called off after 30 minutes, and the helicopter returned to its home airfield, the statement said.

Andrzej Osowski, press officer for the County Commander of the State Fire Service in Nidzica, confirmed in an interview with TVN24 that the fire brigade assisted in the search operation.

“It was a wooded area near the town of Brzezno Mlynskie,” he said, adding that “We continued the search until 4 a.m., but no object has been found as of yet.”

Earlier, Radio ZET journalists met with witnesses to the incident, with one resident saying, “Just before midnight, I heard what I thought was a gunshot. It was quite loud, and the dogs began to bark. It was nothing like hunters shooting in the woods. A long, drawn-out shot, similar to a firecracker, but much stronger.”

“I heard the sound of a helicopter that flew quite low over the village, had lights penetrating the area, and made large circles, flying from the lake to the village,” said another local.

At the end of April, the Ministry of National Defense announced that “the remains of an unidentified military facility” had been found in the town of Zamosc near Bydgoszcz. The object had fallen there in mid-December, and the ministry had launched an investigation into the matter.

On May 11, Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak presented the investigation’s findings.

He confirmed that the rocket’s remains were found near Bydgoszcz. He also stated that the Operational Commander of the Polish Armed Forces had failed to notify the Minister of Defense of the appearance of an unidentified object in Polish airspace.

On May 13, the ministry announced on Twitter that the Center for Air Operations had detected the appearance of an object in Polish airspace that had flown from the direction of Belarus. And the contact was lost near Rypin.

The object was observed late in the evening while still in Belarus’ airspace. It was reported that it could be a balloon.

• Belarus
• Poland