Locals in San Luis, part of the central-western Colombian province of Tolima, called the police recently after finding what they believed to be a crashed UFO in a nearby forest.

"It was smoking and a strange liquid was leaking from it," said one local resident.

Those who witnessed the strange debris were at first convinced it must have been something otherworldly.

"We all thought it was a UFO or the remains of a space craft," reported the surprised residents to local newspaper El Tiempo.

The mysterious remains were identified by local police as belonging to one of X's (formerly Google X) Project Loon balloons. The balloons are released high into the atmosphere carrying equipment meant to bring internet connections to remote locations across the globe.

"It's a technological device used by Google which moves around and is held aloft by a balloon," said Tolima police commander Jorge Esguerra.