News report on 'cosmic event' turns out to be hole dug by kids shovel

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A space enthusiast convinced that a mysterious hole on a beach was a "once-in-a-lifetime cosmic event" has been left embarrassed after it emerged that a man had dug it out.Virgin Media aired a report after the hole on Portmarnock beach in Dublin caught the attention of a local space enthusiast and he contacted the station, the Irish Mirror reports.

Dave Kennedy believed a rock found inside the crater indicated it may have shot down from space.But after the story went live, people soon realised that a Dublin man appeared to have dug the huge hole using a children's shovel when found online.The Virgin Media report began: "It's a huge mysterious crater that looks out of this world, but is it?

The unusual hole on Portmarnock beach stopped local astrophysics enthusiast Dave Kennedy in his tracks yesterday, and he is certain the small but heavy rock inside it came from up above.

Dave told Virgin Media: "There is a scorch mark on the side here so that would have been the angle it came down at. It is weighty, I am not sure of its composition but we are definitely going to have to find out." The reporter added: "There has been no confirmation that this is the strike of a meteor strike, but Dave is optimistic." Dave continued: "Only about a month ago I was watching a documentary from NASA on exactly what you are looking at behind me so when I looked at it and saw how uniform it is and the blast crater, I knew immediately I was looking at an impact site." The reporter concluded: "Dave has spent the day reaching out to astronomy experts to see if they can help him solve the mystery of the crater on the beach.