An Indonesian man became a millionaire overnight after a meteor crashed through his roof. Josua Hutagalung, 33, is a coffin maker from Sumatra who became astronomically richer after he recently sold the meteorite for over 1 million pounds - or roughly ₹ 9.8 crore.
Mr Hutagalung was working outside his home in the town of Kolang when the 2.1 kilogram rock came hurtling through the tin verandah and into his living room.
"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 news outlet Kompas at the time. "When I lifted it, the stone was still warm."
Josua put this discovery of his on Facebook which then created quite a stir.
According to the Independent, the meteorite is carbonaceous chondrite - an extremely rare variety estimated to be 4.5 billion years old. It is reportedly worth around 645 pounds (approximately ₹ 63,000) per gram.
Josua Hutagalung has now sold the rock to a specialist collector - Jared Collins of the USA. Mr Collins has reportedly re-sold it to fellow collector Jay Piatek, who has stored in liquid nitrogen at the Centre for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University.
Mr Hutagalung did not disclose the exact amount he was paid for the rare rock, which has magnetic properties. However, he indicated that the amount was over 1 million pounds.
He told that the amount was equivalent to 30 years of his salary. He now plans to retire and to construct a new church in his village.
Mr Collins 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."
The head of Indonesia's National Aeronautics and Space Agency, Thomas Djamaluddin, told local media it was rare for such a large piece to fall in a residential community. "Most of the meteorites fall in locations far from settlements, such as oceans, forests, or deserts."
