Mysterious Fireball Flying Over Bangkok Caught on Dash-Cam Video

Over 100 rescue workers were dispatched after locals thought a plane crashed.

September 8, 2015, 12:31 PM

— -- A fireball was recently caught on dash-cam video flying over Bangkok, Thailand, in broad daylight -- an incident that also prompted authorities to dispatch firefighters and rescue workers.

The luminous ball can be seen in the video flaring up before dying out as it descended on Monday during the morning rush hour in Thailand's capital.

Panic ensued in Nakhon Ratchasima, a city northeast of the Thai capital, where local authorities mistook the fireball for a plane crash and dispatched more than 100 rescue workers and firefighters to search for the wreckage, Thailand newspaper Khaosod Englis reported.

The search ended two hours later once authorities were notified that there were no reported plane crashes and no debris was found, according to the paper.

Astronomers and officials have since been debating the mysterious flaming object's origins, which remained unclear this morning.

The shooting-star-like object could have been a meteorite or space junk falling from the sky, deputy director of the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand Saran Poshyachina told the Bangkok Post.

Meteorites and other falling space debris usually burn up in the atmosphere before hitting the ground, other astronomers noted.