Main image via Mothership + The Independent
Recently, an Indonesian man made headlines for becoming a millionaire after meteorite crashed into his home. However, the man is now clearing up previous reports by sharing that he did not actually become a millionaire from the sale of the meteor.
He was however, cheated out of the chance that should have been his.
Image via Mothership
Earlier this week, reports made its way around that an incredibly rare meteorite had crashed into Josua Hutagalung’s home in North Sumatra, Indonesia.
British reports shared that the 33-year-old had become an “instant millionaire” from the RM7.5 million sale of the space rock but the coffin maker is now quashing those rumours.
Josua was working when the meteorite crashed through the roof of his home and sunk about 15cm deep into the soil.
“The sound was so loud that parts of the house were shaking too,” he told Kompas. “And after I searched, I saw that the tin roof of the house had broken. When I lifted it, the stone was still warm.”
Image via The Independent
The space rock sold for a whopping $1.85 million (RM7.8 million) but – as now has been corrected – the money did not go to Josua.
Named Kolang in the Meteoritical Society’s database, the rock has been classified as CM1/2 carbonaceous chrondrite which is a rare variety of meteorite. Due to its extreme rarity, the meteorite is worth around $847 (RM3,513) per gram making Joshua’s rock worth $1.85 million (RM7.5 million).
Speaking to Detik, the 33-year-old shared that he had actually sold the meteorite for Rp200 million (RM57,516) and received an extra Rp14 million (RM4026) to repair the damages to his roof.
Josua has since shared the money with his family, orphans and churches in his community.
Image via The Sun
The coffin maker kept some fragments of the meteorite for himself but sold the space rock’s main 1.8kg mass to an American man in Bali who said that he was purchasing it for research and collection purposes.
It was then reported to have been resold to Jay Piatek – an avid collector from the United States, for an undisclosed amount.
“If it is true (the value is) RP26 billion, I feel cheated,” Josua said to BBC. “I am disappointed.”
Info via AsiaOne
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