[meteorite-list] Mystery Ice Chunk Falls From Sky in Japan

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,,2-13-1443_1854500,00.html

Mystery chunk falls from sky
news24.com
December 22, 2005

Tokyo - A disc-shaped piece of ice of unknown origin plummeted from the
sky onto a golf course near Tokyo, narrowly missing players on the
fairway but causing no injuries, police said.

Authorities were investigating the bizarre incident, said Saitama
prefectural (state) police spokesperson Masahiko Kuwashima.

Four players at the Heisei Club golf course in Saitama, just outside
Tokyo, heard a loud thud on Wednesday and found a disc-shaped hunk of
ice about 50 centimetres in diameter, 15 centimetres thick and weighs
2kg, Kuwashima said.

The disc had broken into several pieces, the spokesperson said.

He said police investigators have asked the Transport Ministry to check
into the possibility that ice stuck on an airplane might have fallen,
and are waiting for the ministry's response.

There have been several past reports of ice falling in Chiba prefecture
(state) near Tokyo's Narita International Airport, Kuwashima said.

But there is no airport in Saitama, and the golf course involved on
Wednesday is not known to be beneath a flight route, he said.

No one has claimed responsibility for the mysterious incident, Kuwashima
said.

"It's puzzling," he said, adding that the ice was being kept in a police
department freezer.