Mystery surrounds sticky substance that fell from the sky into Limerick pensioner's back garden

NEWCASTLE West pensioner and campaigner Mike Dwane is puzzled and mystified.

When he went out to his back garden on Tuesday morning of last week, he found the leaves on his lovely specimen tree were all tacky to the touch, sticking to his fingers and leaving an oily residue.

He also noticed the pebbles at the base of the tree were darkened while ivy at the top of a nearby wall also appeared to be tacky.

Later that day, while visiting his daughter, who lives “half-a-kilometre away as the crow flies”, he noticed some trees and shrubs similarly affected.

“I would like to get to the bottom of it,” Mr Dwane said. “It is a mystery.”

But he is convinced that it is aviation fuel from an airplane that flew over Newcastle West the evening before.

“I am 100% sure,” he said. “A plan came from south to north. It was a low flying plane, a passenger plane and not a small one.”

Perhaps, he speculated, there was some emergency and the plane had to discharge some fuel. “Is that what happened?”, he mused.

“There is evidence here it happened, and it happened here in the centre of the town,” he added. “It must have come from high up.”

He is keen to find some explanation and also wonders have other people noticed any similar phenomenon, He has been in touch with LImerick City and County Council, where he was told it would be brought to the attention of the Environmental Section.