Saturday, November 21, 2020

Luck By Chance: Meteorite Worth Rs 9.8 Crore Comes Crashing Through Man's House in Indonesia


Screenshot from video uploaded by Josua Hutagalung.

Josua Hutagalung, a coffin-maker by profession was reportedly working outside his home in August, when a 2.1 kg precious space rock rushed through the roof of his living room in the Kolang area, North of Sumatra in Indonesia.

LAST UPDATED:NOVEMBER 19, 2020, 4:24 IST

An Indonesian man saw a meteoric rise in his fortunes after a rare type of precious meteorite smashed through his roof.

According to the local news outlet Kompas, Josua Hutagalung, a coffin-maker by profession was reportedly working outside his home in August, when a 2.1 kg precious space rock rushed through the roof of his living room in the Kolang area, North of Sumatra in Indonesia.

“The sound was so loud that parts of the house were shaking too. And after I searched, I saw that the tin roof of the house had broken,” he told the news outlet. A video of the incident shows where the meteorite made its landing in his house. The space rock had buried itself several inches in the soil due to its impact.

Watch the video here:


According to a report on the Independent, the meteorite is classified as a CM1/2 carbonaceous chondrite. It is an extremely rare variety and estimated to be 4.5 billion years old. The rare celestial drop is reportedly worth around 645 pounds per gram (approx. Rs 63,000).

Hutagalung was reportedly paid over 1 million pounds or roughly Rs 9.8 crore. He sold the rock to a specialist collector Jared Collins from the United States. Collins, in turn, reportedly re-sold it to one Jay Piatek, a fellow collector with a doctorate at the Meteor Study Center, Arizona State University.

Such a once in a lifetime incident gave Hutagalung a celebrity status locally, as dozens flocked to his house to see the heavenly rock.

He did not specify the exact amount he was paid in exchange for the meteorite. However, he indicated that the amount was over a million pounds.

The amount is reportedly equivalent to 30 years’ worth of salary for his find, with which he plans to retire and build a new church in his village.

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