Between Australia and the island of Tasmania lies a place called Bass Strait, which has been considered almost cursed since its official discovery in the late 18th century. Today, locals call it the “Australian Bermuda Triangle.” The reason is that almost every year, airplanes (mostly small private ones), fishing boats, and yachts go missing in this area. Some are later found empty or in pieces; others vanish without a trace.
The latest victim was a light aircraft with a pilot and his female passenger — swallowed by Bass Strait on Saturday, August 2, 2025. They were flying from Tasmania to visit friends in the town of Condobolin, New South Wales. The aircraft was supposed to land at the local airport around 5:00 PM local time but never arrived. The pilot did not contact anyone or send any distress signals before disappearing.
It is reported that the pilot was very experienced — even too much so. He was already 70 years old. However, retirees are not uncommon among pilots of light aircraft.
As of now, search efforts continue for the presumed crashed plane, either in the sea or somewhere along the shore. Bass Strait is well studied, and disappearing without a trace here seems almost impossible — like vanishing near the Kerch Bridge in Crimea. And although strong currents and winds are common in the region, stories about an anomalous zone here are very popular in Australia.
The most popular paranormal theory about Bass Strait claims that there is an underwater UFO base somewhere in the area, and due to their interference, aircraft and boats suffer irreversible damage — or the aliens simply abduct them.
The most well-known victim of Bass Strait is considered to be pilot Frederick Valentich, who disappeared in October 1978 after taking off from Melbourne toward King Island, located in Bass Strait. Just minutes before contact with him was permanently lost, Valentich reported seeing an unidentified flying object approaching him from the east. He and his aircraft were never found.
