SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) - Is it a UFO, space junk, a meteorite or simply frozen sewage? Whatever it turns out to be, a mysterious flying object has landed in an Australian country dam, leaving a large crater, and sunk beneath the mud.
Air tests around the dam found no radioactivity, but water supplies from the dam to the nearby town of Guyra have been cut.
Police have also erected a two km (one mile) no go zone around the dam, as curious locals and scores of media descend on the sleepy town of Guyra, 400 km (250 miles) north of Sydney.
"At this stage we don't really know what the object is,'' said a police spokesman at Guyra. "It has made a significant depression in the floor of the dam.''
The mysterious object, which landed sometime between Monday and Wednesday, has left a 15-meter (50 feet) long and 6-meter (20 feet) wide crater. The object appears to have hit the dam at about 45 degrees and skidded before sinking.
"They have had a close look at the surface of the crater and it seems that the reeds have actually been flattened, not broken,'' said the police spokesman.
Police divers are on their way to Guyra to inspect the dam, while further air and water tests are being conducted.
A local government worker discovered the crater by accident on Wednesday when he arrived at the dam to carry out routine maintenance. Local residents said there had been no sightings of falling stars, loud noises or earth tremors in recent days.
But the mysterious object dominated Sydney talkback radio stations on Thursday morning, with not only Guyra residents calling in after inspecting the dam, but also scientific experts.
Theories of what the object is ranged from a meteorite to frozen sewage jettisoned from an aircraft. But most ruled out a UFO or space junk.
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