A large iron plate believed to be from a Chinese rocket was found on a farm in Indonesia.

The 10ft long (three metres ) metal plate was seen by astonished residents in Sanggau Regency, West Kalimantan province on Sunday afternoon July 31.

Police arrived to cordon off the area amid fears it could be radioactive - and melt the hands of anyone who touched it.

'We have installed a police line at the location where the object was found so that residents do not approach and take it,' said Adjunct Senior Commissioner Ade Kuncoro, Sanggau Police Chief on Monday, August 1.

Residents in the village of Pengadang in Sekayam district heard a loud banging sound the night before the iron plate was found.

Officers asked residents not to approach the iron plate because it was feared that there would be radioactive substances.

Kuncoro said the iron plate was suspected to be debris from the Long March 5B rocket, which was launched from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in China on July 24.

Debris from the rocket that sent the 23,000-kilogram Wentian module to the Tiangong Space Station was previously found to have fallen in the Sulu Sea region.

'This plate fell almost simultaneously with the rocket debris that crossed Malaysian territory,' added police chief Kuncoro.