UFOs suspected to be rocket debris

This photo taken on May 16 shows an unidentified flying objects falling from the sky and landing in two places in Heilongjiang province on Friday. [Photo /Chinanews.com]

A Russian Proton-M rocket carrying an Express-AM4R communications satellite crashed outside of Kazakhstan's territory on Friday, about nine minutes after lift-off, Russia media outlet ITAR-Tass reported.

The crash was likely caused by a failure in one of the third stage's steering engines, according to Oleg Ostapenko, the head of the Russian national space agency Roscosmos.

The rocket was about 100 miles into its ascent at the time and burned up in the atmosphere, the agency reported. It also quoted Ostapenko as saying that the rocket and all the debris had burned up in the atmosphere.

The mishap marks the second time a Proton rocket has destructed after lift-off within a year. In July, an unmanned Proton rocket exploded after lift-off over Kazakhstan.

The lost Express AM4R satellite, worth more than 200 million euros ($275 million), was described by its maker Astrium - a unit of the European aerospace group Airbus - as one of the most powerful satellites built in Europe, according to Reuters.

Although Russia claimed that the fragments of the rocket and its cargo burned up in the atmosphere and could not cause any damage, some Chinese media suspected that five unidentified flying objects spotted falling from the sky and landing in three villages in China's Heilongjiang Province on Friday morning were parts of the rocket. Witnesses saw a fireball sweep across the sky before falling, chinanews.com reported. Photos online showed a round metal object with a jagged opening.

The three sites have been blocked for investigation, according to the news portal, and local authorities said nothing dangerous had been found so far.

UFO sightings reported in NE China’s Heilongjiang

Three unidentified flying objects were spotted falling from the sky and landing in two places in Heilongjiang province about 6:00 am Friday, Chinanews.com reported.