Locals Panic As Mysterious Fireball Crash Lands Over Sky In South America

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Peruvian villagers were left in shock after they witness three large fireballs crash land on the ground from the skies over South America.

The panicked locals near the city of Puno found the three separate craters caused by the UFO-like objects. 

Images from the scene revealed how the impact from the objects caused small craters to form around the neighboring countryside.

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The earlier images posted on social media revealed how the massive fireball flashed in front of thousands of onlookers across the Andes region, from Tinga Maria in Peru to the Brazilian state of Acre.

IBtimes reports: Peru's Air Force said on Tuesday that the objects could have been the result of a SL-23 rocket re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, and claimed that the three objects were in fact fuel tanks from a satellite.

However, the exact cause has stumped experts, with some offering differing explanations for the incident.

Romulo Barros, fire chief of Brazil's Cruzerio de Sul region, said he was told by the nation's Navigation Centre that the object was probably a meteorite as no aircraft had flown in the area that day.

However, Alejandro Fonesca, a meteorologist from the Universidade Federal do Acre, told AFP that no meteorites were predicted to fall that day. According to his analysis, the objects were most likely space debris, or unused human-made objects that float near the earth's atmosphere in space.

He said:: "When the debris enters the atmosphere it comes under intense friction and this causes it to set on fire. That is what could have happened."

Police have warned curious locals to stay away from the object as it may be radioactive, one report claimed.