Riga, Oct 26 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Scientists investigating a large crater thought to have been made by a meteorite crash said that a closer analysis on Monday revealed it was just a hoax.

Experts in the Baltic country rushed to the site, on the double after reports that a meteorite-like object had crashed and caused a crater. This happened on Sunday in the Mazsalaca region near the Estonian border.

“This is not a real crater. It is artificial,” Uldis Nulle, a scientist at the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Center, said after inspecting the site thoroughly on Monday.

Earlier Uldis had initially said, “My first impression late on Sunday was that the 27-foot (nine-meter) wide and nine foot (three-meter) deep crater had been caused by a meteorite. There was smoke coming out of the hole when I arrived”.

However, when Uldis and other experts examined the so called crater in broad daylight on Monday then they changed their opinion and said it was too tidy to have been caused by a meteorite. “It’s artificial, dug by shovel,” said Girts Stinkulis, a geologist at the University of Latvia.

Sigita Pildava, a spokeswoman for the State Police, said it wasn’t immediately clear whether police would open an investigation into the hoax and who did and with what aim in mind.