Capa Canaveral - Nasa on Thursday confirmed that a large piece of debris from the space shuttle Columbia, which was destroyed in 2003, has been found in a drought-stricken Texas lake.

The component of the ill-fated spaceship is one of its 18 gas tanks, the US space agency said.

Columbia disintegrated as it attempted to fly through the atmosphere for a landing in Florida on February 1, 2003. Undetected damage in its heat shield caused it to break apart over East Texas and Louisiana, killing its seven-member crew.

The Nacogdoches Police Department in Texas called Nasa late last week to ask for help identifying a 1.2m spherical metal tank found in a newly exposed bed of Lake Nacogdoches.

The lake's water level has dropped by about three metres due to a record drought.