‘Spy’ balloon, bomb, or UFO? Mysterious ‘iron ball’ on beach baffles Japan

Images have been sent to the Japanese armed forces and coast guard for them to be examined, reported the Mirror. As per reports, it is still unclear what the object exactly is, while many speculate it to be yet another suspicious object, as seen in the United States recently.

A large metal ball washed up on a beach in Japan’s Hamamatsu, prompting local authorities and police to cordon off the area and launch an investigation into the ‘mysterious’ object.

'Mysterious' object on Japan's Enshu beach. (Twitter)

A local woman who first discovered the metal sphere at the city’s Enshu beach contacted the police on Tuesday morning.

Speculations that the object- 1.5 metre in diameter- could be a stray mine were dismissed as it was found to be hollow upon X-ray examination, The Guardian reported. Experts also claimed that it was not used by neighbouring North Korea and China for espionage.

Instead, authorities believed that the object must be a mooring buoy that had simply worked loose and floated off, because of the presence of two raised handles on the sphere’s surface.

Images have been sent to the Japanese armed forces and coast guard for them to be examined, reported the Mirror. As per reports, it is still unclear what the object exactly is, while many speculate it to be yet another suspicious objects, termed as ‘spy balloons’ as seen in the United States recently.

Meanwhile, a man who runs regularly on the beach claimed that the large ball had been there for a month and did not understand why it had suddenly become a hot issue suddenly. “It’s been there for a month," he told Japan’s public broadcaster NHK. “I tried to push it, but it wouldn’t budge.”