Police and residents of a Japanese coastal town stood bewildered in front of a large iron ball that washed up on a local beach. The authorities admitted that they had no idea what it was.
The British newspaper, The Guardian, reported on Thursday, citing local media reports, that the ball, regarding 1.5 meters in diameter, has sparked frenzied speculation since it washed up on Encho Beach in the city of Hamamatsu on the country’s Pacific coast.
The residents were reassured that the ball was not a mine, following experts used X-ray technology to examine the inside of its body, and found that it was hollow.
There are no indications that the UFO was involved in a spying operation led by North Korea or China.
The presence of two knobs appearing on the surface of the sphere led to a more realistic explanation: it was a mooring buoy that had been released and floated.
Police proceeded to examine the ball, which is brown-orange with what appeared to be stains darker than rust, following it was spotted by a local woman who was resting on the sand a few meters from the beach while out for a picnic earlier this week, he said. Asahi TV.
Police cordoned off the area and called in sappers in protective gear for further investigation, but reports say authorities still don’t know where it came from.
According to the newspaper, the photos have been sent to the Japan Defense Forces and Coast Guard for further examination.
One resident, who used to run regularly on the beach, said he did not understand why the ball had suddenly become the center of attention. “She’s been there for a month,” he told public broadcaster NHK. “I tried to push her, but she wouldn’t budge.”
At one point, the police prevented approaching a radius of 200 meters around the ball while experts tried to solve the mystery, but to no avail.
