SALISBURY — Firefighters and law enforcement searched about 90 minutes Tuesday night after a driver on Interstate 85 reported possibly seeing an airplane crash.

Searches on the ground and from the air found no plane, so the operation ended around 10:30 p.m.

The event began around 9 p.m. when a motorist travelling north on I-85 called 911 to say he’d seen what looked like an airplane “nose dive” not far south of the Yadkin River separating Rowan and Davie counties.

A large contingent of firefighters, law enforcement and other emergency responders set up a command post at a convenience store on Long Ferry Road just off the interstate and commenced a search of the area.

As a ground search continued, the N.C. State Highway Patrol contributed a helicopter to the operation. When both air and ground searches proved fruitless, the effort ended.

David Whisenant of WBTV reported that emergency responders planned to look at High Rock Lake on Wednesday.