Very long time ago in a country not far from this place a local operator was just behind a foreign airline but other direction both approaching for a VOR app. Local controller told local operator in local dialect to keep the speed up and I will make you No 1 . Local intercepted dme arc , flew through inbound radial clean , continued descent at a high descent rate while trying to configure . The foreign aircraft reported sighting the aircraft in the water but no response from a now empty control tower .
I'm in no way saying this is what happened here .