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

The two-meter-long metal plate was discovered 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.

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

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

Kuncoro asked residents not to approach the iron plate because it was feared that it contained radioactive substances.

He added that 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 east of Palawan island in the Philippines.

Kuncoro said: 'This plate fell almost simultaneously with the rocket debris that crossed Malaysian territory.'

A metal sheet belonging to the same rocket was found by the Philippine Coast Guard off the coast of Occidental Mindoro province on August 2, the Philippine Space Agency confirmed.

Rocket fragments were also reported to have fallen in Sarawak, Malaysia on July 31. Two families in the town of Batu Niah were evacuated from their homes over concerns about the fallen object's radioactivity.

The Tiangong or 'Heavenly Palace' space station is a permanent space facility launched by China into the Earth's low orbit. The ambitious project is envisioned by the country to make key breakthroughs in space technology that will aid in deep-space exploration.