The fire department in Strasbourg, France, said it suspected "the fall of a stellar body" as the culprit.
ADVERTISEMENTOfficials in Strasbourg are investigating a suspected meteorite strike, after a parked car was found with a 50-centimetre diameter hole in its roof.
The fire department were called out early on Monday morning to reports of smoke coming from a car which was parked in a suburb of the city in north-east France.
"Following reconnaissance by the first team, we suspect the fall of a stellar body," wrote the Bas-Rhin Sdis, the regional fire department, in its intervention report published mid-day.
"When we arrived, we noticed a relatively large impact, around 50 centimetres in diameter, which had gone through the roof, underbody and fuel tank of the vehicle", fire department captain Matthieu Colobert told AFP.
A search concluded that there was no radioactivity.
"No object was found," he continued. "Either the object was so small that we can't find it, or the impact was such that the object disintegrated and turned to dust", he suggested.
Colobert said his team does have a "suspicion" about a gravel stone which is around two centimetres wide, which was found at the scene. It has been handed to police for further analysis.
A police spokesman told AFP: "It's about the size of a hazelnut, looks like burnt wood, very light." He announced that the object would be sent to Paris to a forensics department.
"Whether an object came from space, that's the question," the police officer said. "Even a marble launched at very high speed on a descent can do damage. But we still have to prove that it's an object that came from space".
