'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.