Mystery giant golden cylinder puzzles Australia after washing up on remote beach
- Police have been guarding the strange object that showed up on a beach near Western Australia’s Green Head since it was reported to them on Sunday
- Authorities said they don’t believe the dome-like cylinder came from a commercial aircraft. But it could be fallen space debris from a foreign rocket
Officers from the Western Australia Police Force have been guarding the strange gold-coloured cylinder since it was reported to them on Sunday, and the department asked people to stay away from it until it was removed from the beach.
The large, apparently metal object showed up on a beach near Western Australia’s Green Head, according to authorities.
The Western Australia Police Force said in a statement that it has launched a joint investigation into the matter.
“We want to reassure the community that we are actively engaged in a collaborative effort with various state and federal agencies to determine the object’s origin and nature,” the police said.
“We are currently making enquiries related to this object located on a beach near Jurien Bay in Western Australia,” the space agency tweeted. “The object could be from a foreign space launch vehicle and we are liaising with global counterparts who may be able to provide more information.”
The space agency also warned that “the community should avoid handling or attempting to move the object”, since its origin remains unclear.
Police said they don’t believe the object came from a commercial aircraft.
Authorities initially said the object was being treated as “hazardous”, but said that an analysis by the Department of Fire and Emergency Service and Chemistry Centre of Western Australia determined the object to be safe and not a risk to the public.
“Recovery and safe movement of the item will be coordinated following formal identification of the item and its origin,” the Western Australia Police Force said in a Facebook post.
Local resident Garth Griffiths told Australia’s ABC News that his neighbour told him on Sunday about the mystery object, which he estimated to be up to three metres (10 feet) long and 2.4 metres (eight feet) wide.
A local lady and her partner discovered it just floating on the edge of the water and dragged it out with their four-wheel drive
“Sometime yesterday, a local lady and her partner discovered it just floating on the edge of the water and dragged it out with their four-wheel drive,” Griffiths told the news outlet.
He added that curious children started digging sand castles around the debris.
Aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas told the BBC that the object could be a fuel tank from a rocket that had plunged into the Indian Ocean at some point in the last year.
