Fireball as unidentified flying object crashes into mountain

LATEST: AN air and ground search of the area where a bright flash and explosion was witnessed early this morning has failed to find an obvious cause.

Although a search found a fire on the mountain, there was no evidence of any wreckage or “risk to human life”.

“There is a fire up there but it could have been caused by a space junk or meteor strike, or even a lightning strike,” said the spokesman.

The spectacle was initially treated as a possible plane crash but is now believed to be a meteor or space junk falling to earth.

Space authorities said it was not uncommon for natural material to hit the earth, with about 100 tonnes of material entering the earth's atmosphere every day.

A resident of Dalby, about 350km southwest of Takilberan Creek, said she saw an explosion of white-yellow light streak across the sky about 6am.

``It was just a flash, it was kind of like a comet tail, but just for a few seconds.