Herders in a remote region of Inner Mongolia were evacuated from their homes by local authorities after a rocket exploded in their neighborhood on Thursday.Photos posted on China's Sina Weibo service and later deleted showed clouds of orange smoke and wreckage bearing the logo of China Aerospace. Local residents and eyewitnesses said the rocket exploded in Arbas subdivision of Otog Banner in the Ordos administrative region.
One resident, named Chagaanbaar said, "I saw it ... the smoke was red and yellow. [It crashed] about one kilometer away."
He said no one had died in the explosion, which hit Bulong Gachaa, a remote and sparsely populated rural area inhabited by traditional herding families. Chagaanbaar said they were told to leave.
Meanwhile, local resident Huhe, who posted the photographs, said the rocket had first been wrongly reported as a missile.
He said, "I wrote the wrong thing in Chinese, but yes, it did come down in that location, and the local authorities have now sealed off the area. Neither the police nor the government have given an explanation of what is going on here."
"A lot of people saw it, such a massive impact. It left a huge crater," Huhe added. He said the authorities had been quick to clear away the wreckage.
A duty officer who answered the phone at the Arbas police station said, "We can't let you have any information, because this is a secret matter."
But he confirmed that a clean-up operation had already been carried out. "There is nothing remaining at the scene now," he added.
He said police were "currently looking for the source of the online photographs."
The U.S.-based website Mongolia News reported on Thursday that the 'rocket' was a missile launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Base, also known as the Dongfeng Aerospace Base, and that local people feared it could cause contamination of the grasslands.