A lightning storm has forced an early end to an air search off the Thirroul coast, where multiple fishermen reported a dark shape – possibly a body - floating off-shore Sunday night.
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Emergency lifesavers spent 45 minutes searching an area about 150 metres off-shore after receiving reports, about 7.20pm.
They were joined by the NSW Ambulance chopper, which searched overhead until a storm rolled in a short time ago.
Anthony Turner, Surf Life Saving Illawarra duty officer, said the search would not resume on Monday morning unless someone was reported missing.
“The storm approached pretty quickly, so we could only search for 45 minutes,” he said.
“No one has been reported missing, so that’s good.
“It could have been debris out there. I’m thinking it might have been a seal.”
The search area was a short distance from a dark-coloured life buoy, however lifesavers do not believe this was the object that raised alarm.
Mr Turner said authorities treated the reports seriously because they came from multiple sources, including several fishermen who generally “had their eye in” when it came to ocean life.
“Hopefully it was a false alarm,” Mr Turner said.