An huge piece of metal fell from the sky near a jade mine in Hpakant Township, Kachin State, Burma.
The mysterious barrel-shaped piece weighs five tonnes, is 12 feet in length and 5.5 feet in diameter fell between two jade mines at about 6am on November 10, 2016.
Residents began reporting hearing a loud boom that apparently shook nearby houses on Thursday. At first, the locals thought it might be an explosion or some kind of artillery, but the culprit turned out to be a large piece of metal junk returning to Earth.
A large metal object has fallen from the sky into a jade mining area in north Myanmar. The cylindrical object was found on Thursday in Kachin state. It measures 4.5 metres (15 foot) long and just over a metre in diameter.
The debris was assumed to be a part of an aircraft or satellite, but it hasn’t been identified yet.
Police Colonel Tun Oo explains: “We cannot identify the piece. It has wire cables. It could not be a part of jet fighter from the Northern Command because it was asking what it was. The military is taking security measures and has covered the debris with tarpaulin. No one was injured although there were many jade scavengers around when the debris fell. I am sure it is a machine part.”
Another smaller piece of metal bearing Chinese writing tore through the roof of a house in the nearby village of Hmaw His Zar, at the same time, but fortunately no one was injured.
No one is exactly sure about the origin of this big chunk of metal. Initial speculation pointed to satellite debris, a piece of missile, or an aircraft engine, but the incident is likely related to the launch of a Chinese satellite.
This is not the first time large pieces of space junk have plummeted to Earth.
