A mystery “aircraft tyre” found on Bonza Beach yesterday elicited waves of speculation among beach-goers, lifeguards and police.
However, hopes the tyre could belong to missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 were dashed by Dunlop Tyres SA after the Saturday Dispatch sent the company photographs of the tyre and its serial number.
Debris from the doomed flight, which disappeared last year with 239 people on board was found on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion on July 29.
The sea-sand encrusted tyre at Bonza Bay was inscribed with the serial number E.V.90.L3 and the legend “Made in South Africa”.
The tyre company’s Durban-based public relations manager Bronwen Bowley said it was “a construction/ earthmover tyre” and that aircraft tyres were not manufactured in South Africa.
“Many harbours use agricultural and construction tyres to act as a buffer on their docking walls,” she explained.
The EL Port’s Terry Taylor said the tyre came neither from the port’s quay wall fenders nor from its tugs which use aircraft tyres as buffers.
The object of intrigue was rolled to the lifesaver shack at Bonza Beach by two lifeguards just before midday yesterday after being examined by principal museum scientist Kevin Cole. He said he was called by a member of the public yesterday morning and went to the beach to inspect the large rimless tyre.
“It could have washed up from the sea or, considering it may be a tyre for heavy machinery, it could have washed down one of the rivers with the June rains, circulated in the ocean for a while before being deposited at Bonza Bay beach.”
Beachgoer Gwyn Matthews said he had spotted the tyre between Bonza Bay and Blue Bend beaches about three weeks ago. “I was just taking a stroll and didn’t think anything of it until I saw the lifeguards rolling it today and then I thought: ‘Who knows, maybe it’s from the MH370.”
Mysterious tyre not from MH370
However, hopes the tyre could belong to missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 were dashed by Dunlop Tyres SA after the Saturday Dispatch sent the company photographs of the tyre and its serial number.
Debris from the doomed flight, which disappeared last year with 239 people on board was found on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion on July 29.
The sea-sand encrusted tyre at Bonza Bay was inscribed with the serial number E.V.90.L3 and the legend “Made in South Africa”.
The tyre company’s Durban-based public relations manager Bronwen Bowley said it was “a construction/ earthmover tyre” and that aircraft tyres were not manufactured in South Africa.
“Many harbours use agricultural and construction tyres to act as a buffer on their docking walls,” she explained.
The EL Port’s Terry Taylor said the tyre came neither from the port’s quay wall fenders nor from its tugs which use aircraft tyres as buffers.
The object of intrigue was rolled to the lifesaver shack at Bonza Beach by two lifeguards just before midday yesterday after being examined by principal museum scientist Kevin Cole. He said he was called by a member of the public yesterday morning and went to the beach to inspect the large rimless tyre.
“It could have washed up from the sea or, considering it may be a tyre for heavy machinery, it could have washed down one of the rivers with the June rains, circulated in the ocean for a while before being deposited at Bonza Bay beach.”
Beachgoer Gwyn Matthews said he had spotted the tyre between Bonza Bay and Blue Bend beaches about three weeks ago. “I was just taking a stroll and didn’t think anything of it until I saw the lifeguards rolling it today and then I thought: ‘Who knows, maybe it’s from the MH370.”
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