By The Straits Times | Created at 2026-10-20 07:41:34 | Updated at 2026-10-20 08:40:55
59 minutes ago
JAKARTA – Indonesian authorities were investigating on Oct 20 after a car-sized piece of what a government agency said was a Chinese space rocket crashed into an oil palm plantation near homes and work sites.
The debris were found on the morning of Oct 19 by a plantation worker in Indonesian Borneo, after residents reported hearing a loud bang the previous evening over a remote area of Central Kalimantan province.
“It was just there. At first, I thought it might have been aircraft debris,” Wardi Tamroni told AFP of his discovery near the town of Sampit.
Wardi, 51, said the object had crashed about 3km from the housing complex of the Agro Bukit palm oil company he works for.
“We usually carry out our activities in the area where the object fell,” he added.
“Fortunately, all the workers had already gone home, so no one was left in the plantation.”
Local police chief I Kadek Dwi Yoga Sidhimantra described the object as “a fairly large aluminium plate measuring up to 9m with an irregular shape and visible burn marks”.
The incident did not cause loss of life or property damage, according to civil aviation spokesman Zachrudien, who like many Indonesians has one name.
The debris also posed no radiation or toxicity risks, he added.
Indonesian authorities were investigating on Oct 20 after a piece of rocket the size of a car crashed into an oil palm plantation.
PHOTO: AFP
Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) said the debris appeared to come from a Chinese Zhuque-2E rocket.
The Chinese government said last week that a Zhuque-2E rocket had launched 10 satellites into space from a commercial launch site in the country’s north-west.
BRIN researcher Thomas Djamaluddin said in a statement that not all parts of a spacecraft necessarily burn up on re-entry into earth’s atmosphere, and more heat-resistant parts may reach the surface.
“This phenomenon is one possible explanation for the discovery of a large metal fragment in an oil palm plantation in Sampit,” he said.
Debris usually crash into the oceans, which cover about 70% of earth’s surface, and the European Space Agency says casualty risk to individuals on Earth due to uncontrolled re-entry is “extremely low”, though growing as launches increase.
The China National Space Administration could not be immediately reached for comment. AFP
