What is it?

Metal debris were scattered over an area in Si Sa Ket on Dec 22, 2011 following mysterious loud bangs. The army reckons the loud bangs were from an unidentified mid-air explosion. (Bangkok Post photo)

Another view of the mysterious object.

Local residents were understandably concerned when unidentified objects began falling from the sky

 23/12/11
Bangkok Post

If you live in an area that has recently been hit by artillery shells, you are understandably a bit panicky when mysterious large objects start falling out of the sky.

Thus, when residents of Kantharalak district in Si Sa Ket, the target of Cambodian shelling earlier this year, heard a loud bang, followed by reports of falling metallic debris, they assumed fighting had again broken out.

Shortly after the explosions were heard, a piece of metal about 1 metre long and half a metre wide was found in a field at Phumsarol Witthaya School, said Chokchai Saikaeo, president of tambon Sao Thongchai administration organisation.

The same school was hit by artillery fire during the fighting between Thai and Cambodian forces earlier this year and local parents were soon on the scene to take their children home.

"Very cold" metal pieces retrieved after UFO explosion over Koh Tral Island

‘UFO’ incident in southern Vietnam reported to gov’t

Sunday, June 1, 2008
Reported by Tien Trinh
Thanh Nien News (Hanoi)

Kien Giang Province authorities have reported the discovery of metal debris, believed to be fragments from the explosion of an unidentified flying object (UFO), to the central government, an official said Friday.

Lam Quang Chanh, the provincial People’s Committee’s spokesman, told Thanh Nien metal pieces had rained down in Ganh Dau and Cua Can communes on the island of Phu Quoc at about 10:20 a.m. on May 27.

The Military Command of Phu Quoc District said militias and residents had recovered 14 metal pieces allegedly deposited on the island from the explosion.

Rumors in Phu Quoc also suggest that some individuals have retrieved “dollars” or “very cold” metal pieces following the UFO’s explosion.

Nguyen Thanh Banh, Kien Giang police deputy chief, told Thanh Nien anyone found guilty of spreading rumors from the incident that would negatively affect security on the island would be dealt with according to law.

Banh also said the security on Phu Quoc Island has been stable thus far.

When residents found the metal debris on Tuesday, district authorities said they contacted airlines in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand but did not receive immediate news of any missing aircraft.

Fishermen recover plane debris

Recovered debris from the exploded UFO (Photo: Koh Santepheap)

Thursday, May 29, 2008
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Following an explosion noise suspected to be a plane crash on Tuesday, and after the police couldn’t find this plane, a report from Kampot indicated that a group of sea fishermen from the Trapaing Ropov village, Prek Thnot commune, Kampot district, discovered metal debris weighing about 20 kilos which they hauled from the sea, about 8 kilometers from the shore. Tum Sothy, Kampot province police inspector, presumed that if the explosion sound did take place on Tuesday, he suspects that it was a spy plane which lost all its fuel, and it was remotely programmed to explode in an area not affecting houses or near a densely populated zone. Nevertheless, Tum Sothy is not sure is these strange debris came from a spy plane or from something else. The surprise did not happen just along the Cambodian seashore, but it also happened in Koh Tral Island (Phu Quoc Island in Vietnamese) as well. Vietnamese news agencies reported that several gray looking metal debris were found, some measuring up to 1.5-meter long. A source indicated that the explosion could take place about 8 kilometers above ground, and that the object may have been a plane, however, the authority is not yet able to provide any information on this mysterious event.

Vietnam probes mystery ‘UFO’ incident

Thursday, May 29, 2008
Thanh Nien News (Hanoi)

It’s a mystery puzzling islanders in southern Vietnam: they heard an explosion, saw something burning in the sky, and found shards of metal debris – but quite what it was, nobody knows.

A plane? Possibly.

An official in nearby Cambodia reported Tuesday that a small plane had crashed in its southern Kampot province, only to retract his comments later.

But Cambodia’s civil aviation authority said that airlines denied missing any planes and there was no trace of any crash.

Still, the reports from Phu Quoc Island – situated in the southern Vietnamese province of Kien Giang and within sight of Kampot – do point to something, according to military and provincial officials.

The island district’s military chief Colonel Nguyen Van Qui was quoted as saying yesterday that “an unidentified flying object exploded at about 10 a.m. on May 27 over the northern part of Phu Quoc Island.”

When residents found metal debris, district authorities said they contacted airlines in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand but did not receive immediate news of any missing aircraft by late Tuesday.

“We have informed the Ministry of Defense,” Dinh Khoa Toan, deputy chairman of the island’s People’s Committee, said.

“We expect the ministry will send some experts to clarify whether the metal came from a crashed plane.

“We have collected several metal pieces in various parts of the island.”

Huynh Tan Hung, an official of the People’s Committee of the island’s Ganh Dau Commune, said local people had heard a series of noises, including a loud bang, just after 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

“We all saw something burning in the sky, north of Phu Quoc Island. The fire was in the sky near Cambodian territory. In our commune, we collected one piece of metal, measuring one meter by about 60 centimeters.”

A soldier on duty at the Military Command of Phu Quoc Island, identifying himself as Tuan, said they had received seven metal pieces that were over one meter long from local people.

“We have contacted responsible agencies and we are sure that no Vietnamese planes, civil or military, were flying there at that time,” he said.

“We don’t have sufficient facilities or experts here, so we cannot tell now whether these metal parts came from a plane.”

In Cambodia, Kampot’s deputy police chief In China said villagers reported hearing a “loud explosion,” but that all authorities had been able to find was a “small piece of metal” in the jungle near the coast.

Keo Sivorn, chief of flight operations at Cambodia’s civil aviation body, said no plane had crashed.

Pieces of the UFO exploded in mid-air over Kampot

A Cambodian policeman carries a piece from an unidentified flying object, found by fishermen, in southwest of Kampot province near the Cambodia-Vietnam border May 28, 2008. The unidentified flying object exploded in mid-air over a southern Vietnamese island, state media said on Wednesday, a day after Cambodia's air force retracted a report of a mysterious plane crash. REUTERS/Stringer
A Cambodian policeman carries a piece from an unidentified flying object, found by fishermen, in southwest of Kampot province near the Cambodia-Vietnam border May 28, 2008. The unidentified flying object exploded in mid-air over a southern Vietnamese island, state media said on Wednesday, a day after Cambodia's air force retracted a report of a mysterious plane crash. REUTERS/Stringer
A piece from an unidentified flying object, found by fishermen, is seen in southwest of Kampot province, near the Cambodia-Vietnam border May 28, 2008. The unidentified flying object exploded in mid-air over a southern Vietnamese island, state media said on Wednesday, a day after Cambodia's air force retracted a report of a mysterious plane crash. REUTERS/Stringer

UFO explodes over island

Wednesday, May 28, 2008
By STAFF REPORTER The Sun (UK)

A UFO has EXPLODED in mid-air over a southern Vietnamese island, according to reports.

Villagers say they heard a loud blast yesterday and later found shards of metal near the island's coastline.

The sensational revelations come one day after neighbouring Cambodia's air force retracted a report of a mysterious plane crash.

The Vietnam News Agency said residents of Phu Quoc island, six miles off the coast of the Cambodian province of Kampot, found shards of grey metal, including one 1.5 metres long.

Wreckage

"The explosion happened at about five miles above the ground, and perhaps it was a plane, but authorities could not identify whether it was a civil or military aircraft," the VNA claimed.

The official state news agency added that soldiers were sent out to look for the wreckage and survivors, and local authorities contacted airlines in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, but received no reports of missing aircraft.

Villagers in Kampot also said they heard a loud explosion yesterday and today found small chunks of metal near their coast.

Kung Mony, deputy commander of Cambodia's Air Force, yesterday said he had been told of a foreign plane crashing in Kampot province, but later backed off his claims of an aircraft accident.