A mystery “unidentified” dome that washed up on a West Australian beach has left police perplexed.
Locals at Green Head Beach, around 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Perth, discovered the enormous metal item.
Authorities from the state and the federal government are looking into the object, which is not currently thought to be from a commercial aircraft.
Police have asked that people stay a safe distance away since it is being treated as dangerous.
“We want to reassure the community that we are actively engaged in a collaborative effort with various State and Federal agencies to determine the object’s origin and nature,” police said in a statement.
Green Head Beach residents said the cylinder was about 2.5m wide and between 2.5m and 3m long, Australia’s public broadcaster reported. Residents visited the site on Saturday night to see the cylinder, the ABC reported, with one local describing it as a “great social evening”.
“It was a lovely, still night, the kids were digging sand castles around it,” he told the ABC.
Aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas said the item was possibly a fuel tank from a rocket that had fallen into the Indian Ocean at some stage in the past 12 months.
