Meteorite makes Indonesian man a millionaire as piece crashes through his roof

A coffin maker in Indonesia became a meteorite millionaire when a piece worth $1.85 million fell through the roof of his house.

Josua Hutagalung told the local Kompas newspaper that he was working when the 2.1kg stone crashed through veranda of the house in Kolang, North Sumatra.

The 33-year-old found the rock buried in the soil after hearing the sound.

When a meteoroid hits the ground following its journey through the atmosphere, it is described as a meteorite, according to NASA.

“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 newspaper. “When I lifted it, the stone was still warm and I brought it into the house.”

Indonesia’s meteorite millionaire

He added: “I strongly suspect that this rock is indeed an object from the sky that many people call a meteorite. Because it is impossible someone deliberately threw it or dropped it from above.

“Many people have come, out of curiosity, and want to see the stone.”

Classified as CM1/2 carbonaceous Chondrite, the meteorite is estimated to be 4.5 billion years old, and reportedly worth $857 per gram.

Giving some details of his future plans, Hutagalung said he had enough money to retire and wanted to have a daughter.

The coffin maker sold the piece of space debris to US meteorite expert Jared Collins, according to Independent.

Josua Hutagalung, an Indonesian coffin maker becomes a millionaire when a meteorite worth $1.85 million crashed through the roof of his house. Photo: Facebook/Josua Hutagalung.

Collins, who bought the significant amount of the rock, said: “My phone lit up with crazy offers for me to jump on a plane and buy the meteorite. It was in the middle of the Covid crisis and frankly it was a toss-up between buying the rock for myself or working with scientists and collectors in the US.

“I carried as much money as I could muster and went to find Josua, who turned out to be a canny negotiator.”

Thomas Djamaluddin, the head of Indonesia’s National Aeronautics and Space Agency, told local media that it was a rare phenomenon for the meteorite to fall in a residential area. “Most of the meteorites fall in locations far from settlements, such as oceans, forests, or deserts.”