Sadly this is not all that uncommon. Several years ago, in the area where I was working, several people saw a bright flash and brief fire on a mountainside one night. Two people, one the editor of the local paper and a long time resident of the area, took compass sightings from three separate locations, and reported them to authorities. No search aircraft were avaliable that night. The next day, a plane was reported missing on a flight that would have passed thru that area. The local county authorities did not have their own aircraft, but got the use of a military chopper. But they completely discounted the sigthings reported, and searched an area far away. Another person, a private pilot, heard the story and reported that the "flash" probably occured on the flight path between two VOR sights (aircraft navigation aids). Still the authorities searched in an area far away. Finally two locals got on their dirt bikes and went to the area reported, finding a smoking hole containing the remains of an aircraft and its occupants. And where was this smoking hole? Take a map, draw in the lines of the three compass reading provided, and the line between the VOR's, and there it was, right where the lines cross. Sometimes the people in charge seem to get so impressed with their own importance that they refuse to listen to anyone else