© Jas MinaA fireball that streaked across the skies of the South Island just before sunset on Sunday likely plunged into the sea, experts say.The meteor was seen across the Mainland at 5.51pm on Sunday and appeared to crash beneath the waves of Canterbury's East Coast, Steve Wyn-Harris from Fireballs Aotearoa said.Jas Mina was driving her Tesla along Old West Coast Rd, heading into Christchurch, when her cameras captured the object.Wyn-Harris said his team were yet to hear of anyone hearing a sonic boom, which anyone close to the object would hear, indicating it went into the sea. "If it did result in a meteorite, it will now be at the bottom of the ocean," he said.Further south, at Kakanui near Oamaru, police received a report about a possible plane crash off the coast.That led to "large-scale extensive enquiries", involving police, air traffic control and flight companies, including a nearby flight school, Senior Sergeant Iain Notman said.All aircraft in the area were accounted for, and no flights appeared on tracking maps in the immediate vicinityMeanwhile, the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand had no activated beacons, nor did Maritime New Zealand.Police across the country received numerous calls, including from Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, "all describing a red ball of light trailing with what looked like smoke".A woman who was heading into Christchurch on the motorway when she saw the meteor told Stuff she saw a bright green light "like a firework or neon green".She said she initially thought the object, which had a bright tail, was a crashing aircraft.Wyn-Harris said it was a bit early to be captured on their camera network, which activates when it gets properly dark. "Anyone with security camera, dashcam or weather cameras in Canterbury facing east should check the footage between 5.50 and 5.52pm," he said. "Fireballs" are large meteors, also known as "shooting stars", Wyn-Harris explained.He said we see three or four large enough to drop a meteorite every year.In March 2024, the Fireballs Aotearoa camera network detected a fireball that they calculated might have dropped a meteorite onto the ground near Tekapo.They quickly rounded up a search party and found it with 30 minutes and the space rock now sits in Tūhura Otago Museum.