Government probes mystery object that fell from the sky in Makueni

A second government agency on Friday embarked on investigating the impact of the mysterious metallic object that fell from the skies and landed at Mukuku Village in Makueni County on Monday.

Kenya Nuclear Regulatory Authority officials spoke to individuals who witnessed the blast and conducted radiation tests in and around the scene of the incident when they toured the region in the company of Ministry of Health officials. The government agency is tasked with protecting the country against harmful nuclear radiation.

"We have come to check the radiation effects in and around the crash site. We have established that radiation levels are admissible. There is no cause for alarm," said a Kenya Nuclear Regulatory Authority official, who sought anonymity citing protocol at the organisation.

The visit comes at a time when the mysterious incident has raised serious questions about the country's ability to detect dangerous objects falling from the skies.

According to Mbooni East Police Commander, Julius Rotich, the object was red hot when it landed. Witnesses said it made a deafening thunderstorm-like sound which was heard up to the neighboring Machakos County.

The Kenya Space Agency identified the mysterious object as a separation ring of a rocket.

“Preliminary assessments indicate that the fallen object is a separation ring from a launch vehicle (rocket). Such objects are usually designed to burn up as they re-enter the earth’s atmosphere or to fall over unoccupied areas, such as the oceans. This is an isolated case, which the agency will investigate and address using the established framework under the International Space law,” the agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

A delegation of government officials led by Major Allois Were, a Kenya Defence Forces officer attached to Kenya Space Agency, has pitched tent in the affected region.

They have spoken to multiple witnesses and retrieved the mysterious object weighing around 500 kilograms for further investigation.

“We are here to assess the impact of the fallen object to the area, identify whose space object it is so that we can use the existing legal mechanisms under international law as far as the outer space treaty is concerned to look and find a way to first get the owner and bring him to take responsibility of his space object,” Mr Were said amid heightened calls for compensating locals shocked by the fallen object.

Mr Were's team yesterday recovered additional fragments believed to be part of the rocket separation ring at Mithumo Village in Makueni County. It is believed to be part of the metallic ring that fell from the skies and landed at the neighboring Mukuku Village.

The second debris, which is smaller and lighter than the metallic part, had landed on a farmland. "On Monday afternoon, we were talking and saw many smouldering objects falling before we were startled by the loud bang of the object which fell at the neighboring Mukuku Village.

Once the dust settled, I discovered two mysterious objects in my farmland and alerted the assistant chief. We cannot imagine what could have happened if the mysterious had fallen on my house," Mr Harrison Kianga said when he led the Kenya Space Agency into recovering the fallen objects. Mr Were said the two materials were part of the rocket separation ring weighing around 500 kilograms which landed at Mukuku Village on Monday.

A team of Kenya Space Agency, Kenya Nuclear Regulatory Authority, and Ministry of Health officials which pitched tents at the scene of the incident allayed fears that the mysterious metallic object has polluted the area with harmful radiation rays. They urged residents to report any mysterious debris they saw in their farmlands to authorities.