Residents of a remote fishing village in central Indonesia enjoyed a rare beach surprise that only lazy outbacks can ever hope to relish any more.
The villagers thought they were blessed with an angel from heavens when they stumbled on a beautiful girl on the beach. They carried it along with them to their house, but only to find later, to their utter dismay, that the heavenly angel was an inflatable sex toy.
This news of the 'angel' spread far and wide and it even caused a momentary social unrest that demanded the attentions of the local police.
The detectives who arrived at the village to investigatge the truth about the soon declared that there was no foul play involved.
The local police chief, Heru Pramukarno, told Agence France-Presse: "When our officers arrived they saw that the 'fallen angel' was just a doll, it was a sex toy."
The police said that villager Pardin had found the doll last month while he was fishing off the remote Banggai islands in central Indonesia.
This happened the day after there was a solar eclipse. This phenomenon is believed to be a deeply spiritual experience in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, which made the superstitious locals think that those two events were linked.
The Straits Times reports that Pardin took the partially inflated doll to his home in Kalupapi village. His mother stuffed the doll with fabric and it was given a fresh change of clothes and headscarf every day, and a chair to sit in.
When the police came to know about this story of an "angel" they decided to step in and investigate the matter. They were concerned that the increasing excitement about the 'angel' could lead to unrest.
"We were hearing many stories, such as that the 'fallen angel' was crying when she was discovered," Pramukarno said to The Star.
The remoteness of the Kalupapi village was the biggest problem in this case.
The officer said: "They have no Internet; they don't know what a sex toy is." After the investigation was over, the officers confiscated the doll and took it to the local police station. They said that this move was necessary to stop rumours from spreading.
