Several fragments suspected to be from a meteorite have fallen into a home garden near parliament at Battaramulla this morning, an official said. 

 

Prof. Chandana Jayaratne of the Colombo University, who visited the site, told Daily Mirror online that these objects had been removed from the spot, where they were originally believed to have fallen.
 

“Most of the evidence has been destroyed as the residents had put these objects into the garbage dump,” he said. However Prof. Jayaratne said investigations were underway to check the authenticity of these objects.

Domestic aide K. Bandulasiri said he saw some unusual rock-like fragments at about 6 a.m. when he was sweeping the garden and had thrown them into the garbage pit.

“When I was sweeping the garden in the morning I saw some white pieces scattered all over and I threw them into the garbage dump,” he told Daily Mirror.

House owner C. Gunathilaka said after seing the unusual objects he had telephoned the Moratuwa University and thereafter contacted Professor Chandana Jayaratne about the fallen fragments.

Prof. Jayaratne said it was a rock type meteorite and in a day or two would be able to confirm whether it was from a meteorite.

Prof. Jayaratne advised people not to destroy evidence which was vital to carry out the required tests.

“It is a great loss when you destroy the evidence, and inform us about the incident. When you see such objects, what you should do is to cover it with a basin or a piece of oil cloth. We can guess the direction and the impact by investigating the depth of the cave. Some more objects may have been scattered around the spot. When you destroy the vital evidence, we lose the basic evidence which can be tested on. In this case we have to carry out an expensive test to find out what the elements were made up of,” Prof. Jayaratne added. (Ajith siriwardana & Darshana Sanjeewa)
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