The Vietnamese military seized three metal balls that fell from the sky on Saturday. The mysterious objects landed in northern Vietnam where witnesses from the Tan Dong and Bao Dap communities heard thunder-like sounds and saw "flying objects" in the sky before the metal balls crash-landed.
The two smaller metal balls weighed 250 grams (about 0.55 pounds) and 6 kilograms (roughly 13 pounds) respectively. Both fell in the Yen Bai province where the smaller one hit a roof of a house while the bigger one landed in a garden of resident Tran Thi Loi.
The third and largest metal ball weighed 35 to 45 kilograms (about 77 to 99 pounds). The third object is as big as an exercise ball. Luckily, it landed near a corn field's stream in the nearby Tuyen Quang province and did not result in any casualties.
Vietnam's Air Defence Arms collected the mysterious objects. The Ministry of Defence is already conducting an investigation. The findings will be presented to the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Investigators said the metal balls are compressed air tanks that could have fallen from a rocket. Initial findings revealed they were made in Russia, however, speculations remained that they could have been sold to other countries.
According to Tuyen Quang Military Command Deputy Commander Tran Van Du, the objects are made of metal alloy. The objects are completely sealed so it is impossible to see what's inside. However, the resounding echoes suggested the metal balls were most probably empty and void of any explosive or radioactive materials.
"This may be the result of a failed launch of satellite," said Professor Nguyen Khoa son from the State Space Science and Technology Program. The metal objects could be fuel tanks.
Son added that similar objects were found in other countries such as Turkey and Spain in November 2015. The intact nature of the objects suggested they fell from less than 100 kilometers or about 62 mile-altitude.
Mysterious "Metal Orbs" Fell In Spain And Turkey
In November 2015, a bizarre 20-kilogram metal orb (roughly 44 pounds) landed in a field near the Calasparra Village in Murcia, Spain. On the same day, a similar object fell 1,500 miles away, in the Sakarya Karasu, a Black Sea coastal town in Turkey.
Days later, a second metal ball landed in Spain, at the Villavieja Village, which is next to the Calasparra Village. A third metal object landed in the neighboring area of Valencia, where it was found by a farmer on his field. In total, there were four mysterious metal objects that fell from the sky in November 2015.
Alicante police spokesperson said the object looks like parts from a space vehicle and that it could be a part of a satellite. According to NASA, there are over 500,000 individual pieces of space debris that orbit the planet. Bits and pieces of space junk fall to the Earth annually.
