Japanese authorities closed a beach area in the city of Hamamatsu on Tuesday (21/2) morning local time to investigate the presence of a mysterious large metal ball of unknown origin.
The suspicious ball was reported by a woman who is a local resident of Hamamatsu, a southern coastal city about 250 km from Tokyo. He called the police at around 9 a.m., reporting seeing a large round object washed up on the beach.
【動画】海岸に謎の鉄球？
静岡県浜松市の遠州浜海岸に
直径１点５メートルほどの
金属製の球体が
打ち上げられているのが
見つかりました
警察が調べたところ
爆発の危険性はありませんが
どのような物かは詳しく
わかっていないということです pic.twitter.com/M8qpnfdWWy
— NHK静岡放送局 (@nhk_shizuoka_) February 21, 2023
Quoted from Asahi News, the woman said her husband was the first to see the object while taking a morning walk on the weekend.
According to the police, the object was in the shape of a ball with a diameter of about 1.5 meters, and was suspected to be made of iron because it had a layer of rust.
Authorities restricted access to within a 200 meter radius around the object for most of the day. The bomb disposal team was seen inspecting the ball.
A suspicious object resembling an "iron ball about 1.5 m in diameter" was found on Enshuhama Beach in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture
Japanese 🇯🇵 police have declared a 200-meter area off-limits due to the possibility of an explosion.https://t.co/6OJ2h746ut pic.twitter.com/M8cGD2usQz
— Saad Abedine (@SaadAbedine) February 21, 2023
An x-ray scan later found the object to be hollow and not a potential explosion hazard. Finally, the restrictions in the area were lifted around 16:00 local time. The object is known to have protrusions that allow it to be attached to something, much like a mooring buoy.
The problem was that the sighting of the object had made residents afraid and worried, because it happened after there was a lot of news about the US incident shooting down a Chinese spy balloon, and it was followed by several unidentified objects.
The report sparked TV attention and lots of speculation on social media. The police team said they would immediately request the local authorities in charge of coastal management to transport the balls.