[Smirnoff]

^^ ^^ your theory is almost certainly correct. Could've been faulty engineering on that particular blade - very possible, or perhaps a case of metal fatigue etc. judging by the intact blade in the photo, The blade seemed to have broken off right at the point where it joins to the hub assembly. The collar holding the blade suggests that the blade and hub are separate (i.e. not a one-piece assembly) and were joined together. This makes it even more likely that the blade separated due to metal fatigue and/or poor engineering, as such a join would be an obvious weak point and would be the first to fail.

It could'nt have been aircraft, because then the news would be filled with the ensuing fatalities etc;

certainly not pelicans or any other bird, the only result would've been bloody bird gibs all over the blade;

those "white lights" that they claimed to have seen near the time of the incident could've been a light-coloured bird , or an aircraft in the distance that happened to be along the same line of sight, these could look surprisingly like "UFOs" when seen from afar or from an angle which renders these otherwise familiar objects in an usual shape/form as seen by the observer. One fellow i nthe article is quoted as saying that the light appeared to be 'hovering"; A high altitude jet seen at a distance, and when travelling directly toward/away from the observer, can appear virtually stationary.