'Burning pencil' crash site found

'Burning pencil' crash site found

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Villagers in the Muna regency, Southeast Sulawesi claim they
have found the crash site of a "burning pencil-shaped object",
about a month after it fell from the sky, but said they were
unsure what it was.

Quoting the villagers' description, Muna regent Ridwan said on
Thursday that the object had a long, slender shape and was pale
blue in color. He said a part of it was embedded in the ground
and a smell identical to that of burned iron dipped in water
emanated from it. The villagers have also taken pictures of it.

Ridwan said it looked like either satellite or rocket debris.
"I've told the authorities to guard the object," he told Antara.
"Nobody is allowed to approach it as it could contain hazardous
chemicals."

Ridwan said he had reported the finding to Jakarta and hoped a
team of experts would arrive soon to identify it.

On April 26, locals reported seeing a "burning-shaped object"
fall from the sky. Officials mistook the falling debris for an
Italian satellite, the BepooSAX, which fell into the Pacific
Ocean on April 30.

Since then authorities have undertaken a search for the
object, however, locating it has been difficult. Ridwan said the
crash site was in a thick forest, close to the steep mountainside
of Mt. Wani.

Earlier this month, a team comprising local police personnel
and the Indonesian Military (TNI) Airforce combed the forest
looking for the debris, but have found nothing as of yet.

Another nine-member search team was assembled in the Kulisusu
district, the area in which the object is believed to have
crashed.

A member of the search party, Ramlan, said he was the first to
reach the object early this week. There is no confirmed date of
the finding.

The team said it takes about two hours from the nearest
village to reach the crash site by foot, and a path leading to
the object has been cleared.