This is the moment a fragment of rocket debris bursts into flames after crashing in a forest area near a village leading nearby residents to speculate that it might be a UFO.

Smartphone footage recorded by locals in Tianlin, in Baise, the westernmost prefecture-level city of the Guangxi Province, China, bordering Vietnam, shows the parts of the rocket falling from the sky.

The debris can then be seen crashing and igniting into a forest area near the village on Tuesday, December 26, as worried villagers gathered around near the site believing it was a UFO.

State authorities quickly launched an investigation after the incident was reported, and confirmed that the unknown object was in fact waste from a rocket.

They added that it was common for debris to fall from launched satellites.

Space debris, also known as space junk, is any piece of human-made objects in space, principally in Earth's orbit, that no longer serves a useful function.

Lottie Williams, a resident of Tulsa in Oklahoma State, USA, is so far the only person who has been struck harmlessly in the shoulder by a piece in 1997.

Objects in low Earth orbit are estimated to be travelling between 17,500 and 18,000 miles per hour, and up to six miles a second.